


The Doctor and the Belligerent

by VienneseDumplings



Series: People like Us [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gay Sex, I am still thinking of a better title, I am terrible at tagging, I dont do pure cute, I dont do pure sad either, Kid is an idiot, Law is difficult, M/M, Slow Burn, huehuehue, i am still terrible at tagging, problematic relationship at the start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:55:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26443771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VienneseDumplings/pseuds/VienneseDumplings
Summary: Do you know love at first sight, the poetic synonyms for exceptional physical attraction? Yes, like any other human with average imagination and a morbid sense of reality, Law thinks 'love at first sight' is just a less crass way to describe the feeling of really wanting to shag someone. But not for Kid: Kid genuinely believes in love at first sight, and the notorious heartbreaker truly thinks the sickly looking doctor is his meant to be.
Relationships: Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Donquixote Doflamingo/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Eustass Kid/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Franky/Nico Robin
Series: People like Us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922200
Comments: 31
Kudos: 76





	1. Hyena kisses and Dazzling fuck

**Author's Note:**

> (1) A side story that I wrote occasionally. Kid/Law is what aroused my yaoi soul when I was young and full of life-ish  
> (2) Irregular updates because I am actually not at the age that should be writing fanfiction for internet Kudos  
> (3) Thanks for reading and leaving Kudos. I sometimes post stuff then heavily edit it later because that's who I am as a person ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖)

Law Trafalgar is a creature of habit.

Every morning he woke at 5 am to make black coffee. Then he will shower (he is a morning shower type), and during the shower he would brush his teeth with Marvis mint toothpaste for four minutes, followed by washing his face with a small bar of P&G soap, and, if lucky, a bit of a pre-caffeine fecal release (outside the shower, of course).

He wears the same outfit every day: a pair of Scottish wool straw-string pants with a long-sleeved cotton tee, all in the shades of black, grey, white, and never green. And if it is cold, he would add on a fur-trimmed cashmere coat that is wholly unmatching to his normal outfit ( a coat from the beloved Rosinate designed by Llama Piana ).

He eats the exact same breakfast, coffee with green apple and a hard-boiled egg, every day with an exception on Sunday, which he will have pancakes. When he was in medical school, he used to spend the one hour window in the morning to do a rough reading on medical field development, and this habit stayed until he became a surgeon. He will go to his practice at 10 am, where he would then start his day as a heart surgeon. He buys his lunch from the nearby onigiri store at 2 pm, and he will always have the packed onigiri lunch set which contains spicy tuna, Tamago and tuna with mayo. It is not the most delicious choice, but it is the most economical choice.

His working hours are often irregular due to the clinic's nature, but when he is off work he would have soup for dinner, followed by an hour of commemorative coin collection appreciation session, and, as usual, he would end the night by calling Rosinate.

This linear pattern of life, however, does not apply on Thursday; because on Thursday night, Law gets fucked.

And by fuck, Law does not mean the normal vanilla, cuddly sex act: he prefers the kind of intercourse that lasts for at least four hours, is absolutely sweat draining, kama-sutrasque, and definitely liquid spilling. His sex act is so wild that for most Thursday he would receive complain (a passive-aggressive knock on his door) by his next-door neighbour, a heavy glassed Kanoian girl called Tashigi, and he always ignores it.

After all, there is no crime in having sex.

Law does not have a specific partner to perform sex act with, nor does he prefer to have a stable partner. He tends to grab a drink in Madame Ivankov, a hip private clubhouse located in SOHO, and see what type of male would be interested in him. He would switch to Baroque Works every third week of the month because Madame Ivankov is closed for a night, but he much prefers the client pool from Madame Ivankov — the men in Baroque Works are often closeted lawyers or bankers who would cry loudly after sex.

Like the owner like the bar, perhaps.

Law has a type: tall, lanky with scruffy blonde hair, preferably work in architecture or design, but he does not filter out man who did not meet the standard. He tried a female once, a long-haired girl with the most perfect legs but least functional mentality (she wish to fulfill every wants for every man), and he did not like the process. 

To put simply, or vulgarly, Trafalgar Law just wants to fuck.

And therefore, when Law was drinking a Scotch on the Rocks by the bar on this particular Thursday, he is incredibly annoyed by the blonde girl arguing with the bartender and blocking any possible man to approach him.

Law cannot afford his routine to be disrupted again: last Thursday night his routine was ruined by Deer Shang, his close friend from medical school and his neighbour. Albeit absolutely brilliant in toxicology, Deer has the weird habit of testing poison on herself without finding an anecdote ex-ante. She calls it ‘ Russian roulette’, and as a doctor who lives just downstair, Law calls it a nuisance.

After nearly eight years of medical school, a week of tiresome work, saving numerous questionable human and a routine of cleansing, Law just one a good, solid sex — is it all too much to ask for?

The answer is no, definitely not.

‘ Kid Eustass, did you really slept with Alvina? ’ The blonde girl said as she angrily stumped the wine glass on the bar table, the chain of Cartier bracelets clanged as she moves.

‘ I slept with her when we were on a break, Bonney.’ The bartender replied, his voice young and scruffy, and oddly familiar to Law’s ears. ‘ Besides, we broke up already, does it really matter?’

Law did not quite take notice of the bartender when he ordered the drink, but he soon realised the bartender is not the normal bartender with long messy blonde hair and eccentric laugh; rather, it is a tall, muscular male with fiery red hair.

A foreign but handsome face. 

‘ She is my best friend!’

‘ Well, for your information, I slept with your current boyfriend too.’

 _Touche_ , Law thought as he heard the reply, and as predicted, the bartenders’ fair face is left with a merciless slap and his bright red hair is drenched in the sugary mix of a cocktail. The girl stomped away in her three inches Louboutins, and the bartender, oddly calm and used to situation alike, grabbed a towel from the bar and dried his hair with it.

‘ Here, use this. You have just used that to wipe the table.’ Law offered his handkerchief (an old habit he learnt from his papa) to Kid, his lips naturally smirked. After all, he has just witnessed one of the most savage reply ever, and it has added an entertaining flair for his night.

‘ Thank you.’ Kid mumbled as he used the handkerchief to wipe the dripping pink liquid off his face, his fingers painted in dark nail polishes. Seems to have detected something, he stopped his action to look at Law.

And that is the moment Law realised Kid is handsome — not aftershave commercial handsome, but the type that is attractive just by virtue of his presence. With his straight, narrow nose, deep red eyes and wide mouth, there is a certain rebellious flair in between that made him irresistibly, craggily attractive. 

‘ You were at Dee’s house last week, aren’t you?’ Kid asked, and to reconcile his memory from last week, Law frowned a little. All that he remembers is how Deer declares she must have died and was in hell upon seeing Law’s face.

‘ Oh, you are the guy who is going to install the laboratory kit.’ Finally remembering the redhead in ‘Franky Family Machines' jump-suit, Law declared. He has the faint memory of brushing past Kid for a few seconds, where he had taken a mental note on how the specific shades of red matches with the deep shade of navy.

‘ Yah, you are his schoolmates, right? Assuming you are also a doctor. ’ Kid said as he continues to wipe some residue alcohol on his face, his lips cracked into a wide smile.

‘ Yes, and his neighbour for eight years.’ Law said as he took a sip of his drink, not sure why he would add that details into the conversation. ‘ How about you?’

‘ Oh, we used to fight a lot when we were young. Now he uses me to fix his shit. ’ Kid replied, and Law chuckled; he never expects a public school educated aristocrat like Deer would get into a fight with someone like Kid. But again, Deer is so one of a kind that normal standard is not necessarily applicable to her. 

‘So, ugh, you come here often?’ Seems to have realized the topic is impossibly hard to follow, Kid changed it as he dried invisible dust off a whiskey glass.

‘ Yah, you are new, aren’t you?’ Law asked as he took another sip of his scotch, his eyes looking at Kid’s eyes and dropped to his body. He is tall and well-muscled, and judging by the tailored pants, he has a very well-trained arse.

‘ Just to top my friends’ shift. I suck at this.’ Kid laughed at himself, and his eyes paused at Law’s, his tongue reflectively licked his lips. ‘ So, ugh, do you want to hang after?’

_Oh._

And by hanging out, what Law and Kid meant is one of the most satisfying sex sessions ever. They can barely keep their hands off each other during the cab ride, and by the time Law was trying to search for his apartment key, Kid already pushed his lips against his and pinned him against the door.

His lips were dry, and with his arms tightly wrapped around Law’s waist, his kiss is almost brutal and yet incredibly lustful. Law was quite sure Tashigi noticed their noise and was spying from the keyhole (or dial the landlord to complain someone is getting laid, how dare they!), but Law cannot care less. In fact, if anything, the forbidden element even makes him more turned on.

‘ You kiss like a hyena.’ Law commented as he pushed Kid’s face away, his knuckle wiping off the excessive saliva on his lips. He is a head shorter than Kid, and with Kid’s exceptionally large build, Law was fully hidden inside his embrace.

‘ Oh wow, you have kissed a hyena before? ’ Kid replied, his lips also broke into a smirk.

Cannot find any reply, Law then grabbed Kid’s head and pushed his lips against Kid’s. This time Kid’s lips were less hyena-like — it was soft, and with their tongue naturally intertwining with each other, Law can feel his pants tightened. Despite his butch outlook and wasps voice, Kid actually tastes like slightly like cocoa, which Law does not hate; in fact, Law finds it quite addictive. 

As soon as they got into his flat, the two men were fully erected, and they jumped into bed instantly, with both of them trying to untangle their pants whilst kissing. Law enjoyed everything about Kid’s phallus: the size is on the large spectrum, the rhythms and thrust fits into Law’s preference without any need of adjustment, and in return, Law cannot stop leaving claw lines or bite marks on Kid’s body. Despite of his animalistic nature and aggressive movement, Kid is not a selfish lover. He sucked Law off after their second round of action, and his tongue and throat were expertly used. By the end of the night, both Kid and Law were exhausted, with each of them drenching with each other’s body sweat, and the room smelt of sex, cum, and sweat.

To put it in another way, the fuck was dazzling.

‘ You have a lot of tattoos.’ Kid commented.

‘ You have a lot of scars.’ Law reported the observation.

And then, the two men fall into an awkward silence.

They are not intimate enough to cuddle, and Law is too private to open up for the standard post-sex open talk. And just as he was going to say something else — _would you like something to drink? It is getting late now, want me to call you a car ?_ — Kid has spoken again.

‘ Do you want to do this again next Thursday night?

_Ohh_


	2. Franky Family Machine Repairing

'You look tired, Law. Did you get any sleep yesterday?’ Chopper, Law’s practice partner asked as he put down a marker cup full of black coffee on the glistening desk.  
  
 _No coaster_ , Law observed, but he is too tired to complain about such trivial pet peeves. Law tends to have a soft spot for T.Choper, his practice partner and senior from Oxton.  The reindeer mink is perhaps one of the kindest and cutest being Law has ever met: known as one of the brightest of Oxton, Chopper could have become any medical researcher or surgeon of his choosing, but instead he chose to become a general practitioner and opened a humble practice in Little Wano that catered to both normal and underworld crowd. When Law asked why did he do it, Chopper only looked at him with his large brown eyes and said it is because he likes people.  
  
And that, my dear reader, is the moment Law knows he will never become friends with Chopper.  
  
But of course, this cynical intuition eventually faded and they ended up sharing the same practice. Kind, considerate, and patient, Chopper is incredibly easy to work with and has the perfect bedside manner. In contrast, Law is robotic, quick, and brusque, earning him the well-deserved title of 'surgeon of death' due to his zombie-like expression and soulless attitude ( 'looks like he is either dying or seeking death judging by the way he talks' according to Apoo_6969 on Google).   
  
' Tough morning.' Law mumbled as he lifted his heavy eyelids up, his throat desperately gulped down the cup of instant coffee.  


Rather than tough, it is perhaps better to call Law’s morning chaotic. 

When he woke up at four o’clock to pee,  he realised Kid Eustass was still sleeping next to him. With his heavy arm laying on Law’s body and his nose breathing down his neck, it is impossible for Law to leave the bed. Law has never tried camping for his entire life, but he strongly believes sleeping with Kid is virtually the same as sleeping with a grizzly bear, except a bear would probably have a manifestly better sleeping manner than the redhead. 

What is worse is that Kid is a heavy sleeper and only woke up after Law has struggled for two hours; by then Law is on the verge of wetting himself and is too awake to fall back to sleep. To make the matter worse, Kid has shamelessly used 1mm more toothpaste than his designated toothpaste usage, and Law's meticulously folded silver toothpaste is now crumbled like an acrylic tube, ruining the pristine condition that Law tries to maintain.

And, last but not least, Law found out Kid has left his apartment keys on the floor and Law has absolutely no idea how to contact him.They passed out right after Law agreed to next week’s arrangement, and in a hurry, they had totally forgotten about exchanging contact details. Law somehow takes that as a sign of the universe revoking Kid's apartment for being an awful sleeper; after all, there is no way Law can give Kid back his keys. 

_Well, actually there i_ s _a way_. Law sighed as he picked up the keys from his pocket, his grey eyes staring at the mini robot toy and the generic key chain attached to it — _Franky Family Machines Repairing_ — the red font read. But Law does not want to go there today: it will make him look overly keen and desperate, two adjectives that are never applicable to Law. 

At least not overtly. 

‘ Oh, you go to Franky’s as well?’ Chopper asked as his eyes glanced at the key chain, ‘ Franky did the most amazing alteration in my car and it is ready today. I can't wait for it!’ 

_Aha! And excuse! No, no, not an excuse, a reason. A perfect reason._

Tucked only a few streets behind their practice, the Franky Family Machine is of walkable distance and made it more justifiable to find Kid, or, according to Law, to pick up Chopper’s car. As the buildings change from the yellow bricks to industrial steel, Law gets closer and his heart beats faster. He was not quite sure what to do if Kid is not here: just to pass the keys to his colleagues? Left it on the front desk? And even if Kid is there, he was not quite sure how to greet him: should he begin with a ‘Yo’ or a ‘good afternoon’?

Realising he is acting too much of a public schoolboy, Law decided he could simply shove the key to Kid’s hand and run away.

Law Trafalgar, always the charmer. 

Franky Family Machine is a large warehouse filled with sports car with bulletproof glasses or the banal darling of the wealthy middle-classes (Range Rover or Land Rover). Buzzing with mechanics cutting up or remodeling engines (all in the same navy jumpsuit with weird protective goggles), everyone is busy burying their crazy hair under dirty cars, and no one has taken notice of Law.

‘ You alright? ’After failing to grasp anyone's attention for near ten minutes, a tall, blue haired man finally acknowledged his existence. Tall and disproportionately huge, the man is cladded in a bright red Hawaiian shirt with denim hot pants, his upper body exceptionally toned and his legs excessively lanky, his feet showing off a fresh pedicure with his red plastic flip flops. 

‘ What do you want, pretty _boi_.’ He asked as he lowered his sunglasses, the pair of strikingly beautiful eyes staring straight into Law's. Fringed with curly lower lashes and blue as the Tuscan lake, his eyes look like they are cut out from an oil painting, and it is such a mismatch with the rest of his face that makes one wonder what kind of cruel joke the god is making when creating him. 

‘ I am here to pick up a car,’ Law said as he took out the ticket Chopper gave him, ‘ also, is Kid Eustass here?’ He squinted his eyes a little when he uttered his name. He was not quite sure whether the Kid's last name is Eustass, but he remembers the blonde girl at the bar seems to call him that, and so he would take his bet. 

‘ Kid?’ The man arched his eyebrow as he looked at Law up and down, then after a brief assessment, he turned to yell at the group of workers by the machine. ‘ KID — where the hell is Kid? I just saw him there. ’

_Thank god I am right_. Law thought as the blue haired man walked inside and he screamed further, and after a brief moment, Law heard the familiar voice barking back in return.

‘ What do you want me for, Franky? ’ Kid shouted as he walked out of nowhere.  For some ridiculous reason, Kid managed to look like a rugged adonis in his workwear: his tall, muscular body fitted snuggly in the navy jumpsuit and the silver zip lowered to his torso, his upper body glittered with sweat.  
  
' I told you, I am having a break.' His eyebrows frowned in annoyance as he took off the thick woolen gloves with his teeth, and Law cannot help but imagine how he wouldn't mind leaving a few bite marks on his body. 

‘ Your bird is here.’ Franky nodded to Law’s direction, and, as if a dog that had just saw his master, Kid’s eyes widened and his lips broke into a huge smile. 

‘ Why are you here? It is not Thursday yet.’ Kid said as he walked to Law’s side. 

‘ _Bird_ ?’ Law expertly deflected the answer by raising a question. 

‘ Oh yes, it is very MISOGYNY OF YOU FRANKY.’ Kid shouted back at Franky, who has by now disappeared into the waiting lot to pick up the car. 

_No no, that is not the point. That is totally not the point at all_.Law thought, wondering what kind of brain Kid possesses. Gave up on trying to lower his intellectual level to that of a chimpanzee, he tossed the key to Kid,‘ You left this in my apartment.’ 

‘ Oh shit, cheers. Those are my room keys.’ Kid said as he reflectively patted on his back pocket, his other hand quickly caught the key from the air.  
  
' How do you get back home this morning then?' Law raised his eyebrows judgementally. _Climbing up the building like a bloody bear_?   
  
' Climbed back and broke a window.' Kid replied proudly.  
  
 _I knew it._ Law thought, his face remains stoic and not showing an ounce of his internal excitement. He has a reputation to maintain, after all.   
  
' Erm, anyway,' Brushing his red hair with the dirty gloves, Kid diverted his gaze as his cheekbone blushed. _It is probably from the heat_ , Law thought, for he is also sweating profusely under his t-shirt. ‘ There is a sandwich place nearby, want to grab a —’

‘ I don't like bread.' Law rejected without hesitation. A part of him would like to give Kid a chance, but another part of him simply does not want to be attached to anyone. A more-than-one-night-stand arrangement is already pushing the line, and Law does not want things to get more complicated than that. He only needs sex from Kid Eustass, and that's the only thing he is going to get. No conversation, no personal information exchange, no secrets or dates or giggles: a simple transaction that repeats every week, a sexual mortgage is what Law needs.   
  
' Well, they have chips.' Kid added, totally oblivious to the subtext of Law's answer. 

‘ I am just here to pick up my car. ’Law clarified even though it is technically not _his_ car. But to maintain the image of him being distanced and sphynx like, Law must lie: after all, Law is well aware of the fact that he does not look like someone who would pick up their colleague's car without an agenda.   
  
' Your ride is here, pretty boy.' Franky once again disrupted their conversation, and f alling into Law’s sight is a small, bright red tricycle with a basket at the front and a gigantic engine at the back. It is physically perfect for a toddler, but aesthetically not suitable for any being on earth. To indicate the sturdiness of his creation, Franky heavily slapped on the bright red seating cushion which let out of a sharp plastic screech sound, and Kid uncontrollably broke into a mischievous grin.   
  
' That's your ride?' Kid asked, and Law averted the questions by maintaining his silence. 

‘ Here you go, titanium tricycle, perfect for the coolest toddler, deer, or toddler deer in town.’ Franky said as he squeezed the plastic beep to let out a loud, monstrous barking noise. ‘ I even modified the beep to make it more _Gangsta_. ’ 

_How on earth is it ganster_. Law thought as he glanced at the basket with crochet decoration, his eyes widened in confusion. He cannot imagine how Chopper will look like on the tricycle, but Law supposes reindeer tend to have some sort of fashion faux pass that the average human does not possess. 

‘ You should try and take a spin of _your_ ride, Sir. Test drive it a little before you leave the warehouse; no refund afterward.’ Kid commented.   


_You piece of shit_. Law smiled stringently as he wrapped around the handles, his body trying to squat down and fit into the excessively small seat. The tricycle made an unfortunate creaking sound as soon as Law's bottom touched the cushion, and he quickly bounced up before further breaking Chopper's monstrous of a dream ride. Kid, who was standing next to him and observing the whole transaction, was trying to hold his laugh like a hyena on drugs, and Franky was nodding approvingly, his expression looks like an artist that has just witnessed the birth of a masterpiece.   


‘ Thank you,’Law said as his brain thinks of the horror and looks he will encounter whilst dragging it back to the clinic.‘ I have to go now, got an appointment later.’   
  
Not forgetting Kid -- how could anyone, really -- Law turned back to flip him off, and the tricycle started playing some weird music as soon as Law tries to drag it along with him. 

' I added the music feature so T.Chop can have his own badass background music !' Franky shouted as he waved enthusiastically.   
  
_What the fuck is wrong with Chopper_. 

‘ Wait, wait — ’ Just as Law walked towards the main road with the monstrosity, Kid chased up and grabbed his wrist, his face flushed pink and his expression tense as if he is afraid Law will disappear in his sight again.

‘ You still haven’t told me your name yet.’ 

_Ohh._


	3. Kids in love

‘ I am in love.’Kid declared as he thrust his waist into the man underneath him, his phallus released the viscous liquid inside the tight, moist gap as he achieved the optimal pleasure. He let out a small grunt as he pulls out, his body drenched in sweat and his smile bright and wide.  
  
‘ What?’ Sanji heaved as he pulled out from the girl under him, his eyebrows raised in a mildly confused manner.   
  
‘ What the fuck, Kid?’ Alvida, who was down in her all fours, pushed Sanji away and stared at Kid, her orgasmic euphoria seems to be wiped out by a sudden wave of shock.  
  
‘ Oh don’t worry, I am not in love with you, ’Kid removed the soaked condom, his other hand grabbed the box of tissue and handed it to Alvida. ' or you.'   
  
‘ I am in love with Law Trafalgar.’ He clarified.  
  
 _Slap.  
  
_ ‘ Dude.’ Sanji smirked as he put on his tailored pants, his eyes following Alvida's angry stomps like it is the most entertaining thing he has ever seen. ‘ You for real?’  
  
‘ Yah.’ Kid grabbed the box cigarette off his bedside desk ( a chair filled with all types of clothes, condoms, and tissues), his hand searching for the lighter under the pile of clothes. ‘ I am going to tell all of my sex partners I am out of the game after I have a last commemorative fuck with them.’  
  
‘ That’s a dick move, Eustass. You are going to get slap a lot.’ Sanji commented after he buttoned up his shirt, his hand brushed his blonde fringe in front of his mirror. ‘You know I won't let you fuck me if Alvida is out, right?’  
  
‘ Yah, I know. ’ Kid shrugged as he lighted up his cigarette. Sanji is Killer’s colleague from Madame Ivankov, and Kid only includes Sanji in his physical pursuit because Sanji is the only guy that agrees to be the middle of a threesome. Kid suspects it is some sort of deeply repressed homosexual denial that made Sanji finds it only justifiable to have sex with a male when he is also simultaneously fucking a female, but Kid does not necessarily care enough to finds out.  
  
 _Sanji is not Law, after all_.  
  
‘ Well, since this is our last fuck, and you just made a girl cry… ’  
  
 _Slap.  
  
_ It is not the first time Kid had a threesome, nor is it the first time Kid got slapped by a sex partner, but it is certainly the first time Kid got slapped by two sex partners in a roll.And what a shame that is: Sanji has a nice body, and Alvida is an excellent sex partner -- she is so insecure about her outlook that she constantly tried to compensate her hypothetical beauty flaws with exceptional sex skills.  
  
Besides, it is not Kid’s intention to suddenly declare his love for Law; he only said because at that very moment he came to the eureka that Law Trafalgar is the love of his life.  And what can one do but declare loudly when they think of the love of their life?   
  
_Law Trafalgar_ , even the pronunciation of his name sounds beautiful. _Law Trafalgar_ , _Law Trafalgar_ , _Law Trafalgar_ _!  
  
_ Of course, Kid did not just fall in love with a guy that he met for a few weeks. It would even be too hasty of a thing even for someone like him; he has met Law a year ago, and has only started talking to him three weeks ago.  
  
Much better, isn't it?  
  
Kid first met Law in an autumn evening at a nearby bus stop, he was smoking and Law was getting off the bus. He still remembers the bus number: 45A from Belgravia, the area that Kid will never linger. Law’s slender instantly caught his eyes and stole his heart: an anemic complexion with two dark shades underneath his flaxen eyes, Law possesses the whey-face, sickly beauty that people tend to love. The way he wears his cotton tee shirt with tattoos poking out from the collar bones, the way his slender legs looks in those tailored yet comfortable pants, and the upturned corner of his lips underneath his unkept goatee, as if the world is a crass joke that only he knows, everything about Law is tantalising and enticing.  He was not the most beautiful or handsome man Kid has ever met or fucked,but he is certainly the most captivating person Kid has ever met. Kid felt a sudden throb on his heart, the type of sudden sharp hits that rarely happens, and he was so busy twisting his head to catch a further glimpse of Law that he missed his bus.  
  
Kid had masturbated over the image Law for around ten times before he realised he might be acting rather creepy, and he has since then kept Law’s shadow in a treasure box inside his head, occasionally picking it out to admire it like his favourite vintage robot toy. And the more frequent he thinks of Law, the more obsessed he is of him: there is something about the pale figure that Kid just wants to absolutely devour.  
  
The second time he met with Law is in Deer Shang‘s apartment. He was there to convert her storage into mini-laboratory, and Law happened to be there for whatever reasons. Kid instantly recognised the blackhead as he walked past the reading room; he will always recgonise Law from everywhere and anywhere, fo the rakish debonair always comes to his thought out of nowhere.  
  
‘ I feel rather dead inside, Trafalgar.’ Deer announced.  
  
‘ It is called growing up, Shang. You will be grand. ’ Law retorted, his face turned back to meet with Kid’s prying eyes, and Kid felt his heart paused the moment their eyes met. Of course, as a full-grown adult with the romance attitude of a seven-year-old,Kid only came to realised he should have asked for Law’s number when he finished setting up the laboratory kit, and by then Law has once again disappeared from his sight.  
  
‘ Dee, who is that?’ He asked as he rushed to the reading room, startling the Kanoian from her coffee.  
  
‘ Who? ’ Deer replied, her tone slightly dazed.  
  
‘ The man that was just here.’ Kid inquired, ‘ the love of my life.’  
  
‘Oh,’ she let out of a small, high noted ‘oh’ like she always does. ‘ The love of your life is called Trafalgar, he is a doctor friend of mine. ’ She paused a little, ‘ Are you on drugs?’  
  
‘ No, just in love.’ Kid said straightforwardly, his tone was so sincere that it even startled Kid himself.  
  
‘ Ok, ‘ she shrugged as she shifted her focus back to the pile of messy paper on her desk, and in a much lower voice, she whispered.’ Definitely on drugs.’  
  
Kid was not on drugs, of course. He is a professional mechanics with five stars on trustpirate, the to-go for mechanics for any automotive owner or laboratory fixer, and if he were on drugs,the drug must be Law Trafalgar, and love is the symptom.  
  
‘ I am in love.’ Kid declared again, this time on the dining table, with Franky wearing a tank top with a large’ HUSBAND’ font at the front and a tight red hot pant on the bottom, his overly large hand busy tossing a large bowl of summer salad with olive oil; Robin was wearing the exact same outfit, her pale hand busy grating cheese on top a fresh plate of penne. People might have regarded the overly revealing matching outfit as sweet, but given Franky is Kid’s brother who has basically raised him up, it is equivalent to seeing one’s parents being overly loving and therefore inevitably unappealing.  
  
‘ Good for you, Kiddo. ‘ Franky gave him a thumbs-up as he put down the salad bowl. ‘ Is it the boy with black hair and catsy eyes?’  
  
‘ Oh, Kid met someone? ’ Robin turned her back to look at Kid, her lips broke into a large smile. ‘ Who is it this time? A musician again?’  
  
Robin somehow assumes Kid has a preference over musician ever since that one time she caught him making out with a music band kid in high school. Kid has since then clarified he does not necessarily only date musician; if anything, he rarely dates.   
  
Kid Eustass only does one activity outside playing in a band or being a mechanic, and it is to fuck _everything_ .  
  
It is not like Kid does not has a preference or a standard:he likes girls with long curly hair and perfumed body, or boys with pale skin and slender frame, but he will never refuse a chance for coitus. For some unknown reason, people, whatever age or gender, tends to find him sexually attractive. He has detected such attraction ever since he has a belayed growth spurt, where he found Miss.Doublefinger from the sandwich store tends to show more cleavage when he is around, and the pervy sports teacher Gin seems to overly care about Kid's stretching routine after each rugby training session.  
  
Kid never enjoyed or welcomed these attractions, but he very soon grows used to them and certainly exploits the hell out of them. 

‘ He is a doctor.’ Kid said as he helped Robin to set up the table. Three plates, two big and one small, with three sets of culinary polished clean: Kid actually enjoys having dinner with Franky and Robin every night. Whenever he sees how Robin lovingly looks into Franky's burping face, it somehow makes Kid feels like he will find a love like that too.  
  
After all, if Franky can find someone like Robin, anyone can be in love with anyone.  
  
‘ Which type of doctor? Surgeon or GP?’ Robin asked curiously.  
  
Kid found his tongue-tied. He never quite asked Law what kind of doctor he is; in fact, out of the three Thursday that they had spent together, they barely made any conversation. Every Thursday is the same: they will meet in a certain location, and as soon as Kid arrived they will start making out and have sex, with Law being the bottom and Kid on top, their sex session last roughly one to three hours on average. They barely talk during the process, with Law either busy going back to his clinic or somewhere else, and the only thing Law would say is ‘ see you next Thursday’ like it is some sort of bones that Kid would chew on for the rest of the week.  
  
And Kid did chew on the bone every week. He will look forward to every Thursday like some sort of lovesick puppy, waiting for Law to do whatever he wants and yearn for the ‘see you next Thursday’ like Pavlov and his dogs, only Pavlov at least has some sort of basic attachment with his dog.  
  
‘ Heart surgeon.’ Kid said as he sat on the chair, his tone affirmative but his head started to wonder whether he knows Law at all.  
  
Law did not even bother to tell him his occupation: Kid only knows he is a heart surgeon because their last Thursday session happened in Law’s practice. Law was so busy that day that he almost canceled it, and Kid, in desperation, suggested to have sex in his clinic. Law said it is too unhygienic, and they both reached a middle ground to fuck in the storage room located between his office and the reindeer's office.  
  
It is not the most rational choice, but they are are both adults in their mid-to-late twenties, and as with all young adults trying to act like a functional adult, they are both very, very horny.  
  
Kid still remembers how Law’s back looks like when he pushed him against the door ( ' Remember to wash your hands', the poster said), his hand covering the small, fragile mouth in case of Law leak out an unwanted sound. Lean without an ounce of extra fat, Law’s back was pale and scarless, and the curve was so soft that it is more beautiful than that of Alvida. Law greedily wrapped his mouth around Kid’s finger and sucked it off like a lollipop, and the oral subtext was so seductive that it made Kid came twice within the first thirty minutes.  
  
‘ Good session.’ Law rewarded his performance with a high five, and that is the closest thing to a cuddle that Kid has ever gotten out of Law.  
  
 _I am in love, right?_  
  
‘ You are not in love, Kid.’ Killer said as he drew a deep breath from the joint, his mouth opened a slight gap to let out of chain smoke. ‘ Remember how you thought you were in love with Doublefinger before you masturbated ? This is just double finger all over again.’  
  
Seems to have detected Kid’s tendency to ask all sorts of weird questions whilst getting high, Killer, his childhood best friend and band drummer ( their band is called ‘ Garage Kids’ which feature five grown men and zero kids), answered his question before Kid even had a chance to ask.  
  
‘ Sanji told me about you ruining his threesome, I have to top his shift for a few Friday so that he can get some emotional healing. ’ detecting Kid’s confused face, Killer explained as he passed the joint to Apoo.  
  
‘ That’s the only way Sanji will ever get topped.’ Apoo japed as he took over the joint. Occasionally deejaying in Madame Ivankov, Apoo has enough social interaction with Sanji to know how hopelessly pathetic he is when it comes to sex or love.  
  
‘ Law is special.’ Kid defended.  
  
‘ Dude, you barely know him.’ Killer said as stretched his body, the old brown sofa made a creaking noise.‘You can’t fall in love with someone you don’t know.’  
  
‘ If we can know that we don’t love someone without knowing them, why can’t we fall in love without knowing them?’ Kid retorted, and he is surprised by how philosophical his stoner thought sounds like.   
  
‘ Wow, this must be strong to make you this high.’ Apoo chuckled as he passes the joint to Heat. ‘ Did you get that from the Kanoian?’  
  
‘ He is not like other men.’ Ignoring Apoo’s question, Kid mumbled like a child,‘or girls.’  
  
‘ Ah shit, Kid is falling in love.’ Heat laughed, his feet kicking the beanbag next to him. ‘ Dude, do a reading on Kid or something. Don’t you read tarot cards to lure chicks? ’  


‘ Tarot reading is a serious activity you imbecile.’ Hawkins rolled his eyes, his hand did to a little wave to reject their weed rotation. ‘ I did not do it for chicks — I do it for professional interest.’  
  
‘ Oh,you are a psychic? I thought you are a hairdresser.’ Killer commented as he brushes through his heavy locks of blonde hair. Despite its numerous split ends, Killer actually took extra care of his blonde locks ( he even uses Vidal Sasson conditioner just to make sure it looks healthy all the time, albeit failed miserably).  
  
‘ I sell _collections_ from the top graduates of Lothian School of Fashion in my boutique.’ Hawkins contended as he looked at Killer blankly. ‘ I am a fashion collector.’  
  
‘Are you actually posh?’ Kid raised his eyebrows. Unlike others, Hawkins only came to join their band after an open bar performance in SOHO, and Kid just assumed he is some sort of weirdo with no friends that does ‘psychic’ for a living.  
  
‘ …do you want me to do a reading? ’ Giving up on any further communication with his heartless bandmates, the blonde man blinked slowly to show his discontentment, his hand took a stack of cards out from his special velvet tarot bag. Despite his complaint, Hawkins will never miss a chance to practice his beloved tarot.  
  
‘ Are we some twelve years old in a sleepover?’ Kid mumbled and extended his hand to grab a card from his stack.Playing tarot cards in the garage on a Friday night is not necessarily the most butch thing Kid has ever done, but Kid does not really care about what constitutes as butch or not butch: his action is based on whatever whim that occupies him at the moment. Besides, Kid is half curious as to what would happen between Law and him, and a little tarot does not hurt.  
  
‘ …’ Hawkins frowned a little, ‘ ten percent.’  
  
‘ Huh?’ Kid raised his eyebrows confusingly. _Ten percent of what?_  
  
‘ The success rate is ten percent.’ Hawkins responded, and Apoo made a slight pouted face as Heat observed Kid in one eye, they were all curious as to what's Kid reaction. The only person that is not observing Kid is Killer, who is too stoned to care about what is going on in the garage at this stage.  
  
‘ Ten percent, that means I still got a chance.’ Kid grinned.  
  
Guess love truly is a drug, and it is most certainly blinding.  
  



	4. Please, Goodnight, I miss you

_I am so fucking tired_. 

Law sighed as he took out his keys for the side entrance, the key stuck into the tall victorian door as his eyes locking on the tiny gargoyle statue located on the door arch. 

_Please, door gargoyle or whatever door god there is, don’t let the bloody key broke again._

Located near Little Kano, his apartment is an ex-hospital complex that was rumoured to be haunted, with the main gate constantly surrounded by tourists and ghost hunters alike. To avoid the crowd, the resident always has to enter through the discreet side entrance, which is always surrounded by wild cats by day or overweighted raccoons by night ( Law in fact once mistook his Chopper as the overweighted raccoons and nearly fed him a chocolate bar). 

Despite the questionable location, the apartment complex has the type of aged elegance that belongs to another era. With the humid air, dimly lighted hall, and victorian elevator with a hand pull door, the complex is filled with residences that were once glamourous: Madame Balkin,the rumoured ex-lover of legendary mafia man Edward, live right below Law. Usopp the famous artist lives on the third floor, and his old friend Deer Shang, the runaway aristocrat who had all the antiques but none the money, lives in the top floor apartment.

And then, there is Donquixote Rosinate, the photographer that once wowed the art world, passing the apartment to Law when he is simply gone.

‘ Erm, Mr. Trafalgar.’ A weak voice raised near his ear as he puts his key to the apartment's keyhole. _I must be hallucinating_ , Law thought as he pushed the key in and jerked it down. 

‘ Mr. Trafalgar.’ The voice raised again, and Law turned his face impatiently. Behind him stands the Kanoian girl in red glasses and short hair — _Tashigi, that's the name_ — her slender body wearing an ugly red flowered shirt and beige capri pants, her eyes looking at him nervously. 

_Not today mate_. 

‘ You have been quite loud these few Thursdays. Erm, louder than usual.’ She pushed her glasses nervously. 

‘ And?’ Law sighed a little, his eyes staring at her blankly. _She could have been pretty if she lost the glasses and change the wardrobe_ , he thought. _But she looks like a bore in bed. What a pity that you can’t drop your personality._

‘ Could you keep it down a bit?’ She requested. 

‘ Keep what down a bit, precisely?’ Law raised his eyebrow. 

‘ Erm, your, your breathing.’ Tashigi said as her eyes looked at the floor. Of course Law knows what did she hear — _‘ oh fuck oh fuck oh’ ‘ fuck me harder you fucker’_ — but he just wants to see whether she can retrieve the conversation verbatim. 

‘ I will try to breathe quieter next time. In fact, let me try to not breathe at all tonight.’ Law replied with a deadpan, and Tashigi blushed. Decided that he had enough of social interaction, Law opened the door and shot Tashigi one last glance. 

‘ Goodnight, Madame. I will have sex quieter next time.’

_What a bother_. Law has never liked coyness or shyness: he found them vexatious and counterproductive, and he much prefers conversation that people tend to find 'crass' or 'brusque'.  And the promise of lowering the sex noise is, of course, a lie. When it comes to sex, Law loves it rough and Kid Eustass loves it rougher. For the past few Thursdays, Law and Kid has been busy fucking in basically wherever they can. That includes every corner of Law’s apartment, Kid’s work station, toilet in pub, bar, club house, and the clinic storage room.The last time they have finished, Law is covered in bruises in his nipples, thighs, and arms, and Kid has enough scratch marks on his face that made his friend questions whether he just adopted a new cat. Law also had a terrible back pain that lasted for almost two days, which he is not very sure whether he should contribute it to Kid or to his slipping age. 

He sighed a little as he took off his shoes and stepped into the hallway. The apartment layout is simple: opposite to the entrance is his ensuite bedroom, next to it is the living room with an open kitchen and a large dinning table, and at the end of the hallway is a separated loo. On the wall hung various photographs — black and white, captured in unexpected angles in unpredictable poses, all contemporary and deeply personal. 

_I despise pretentiousness, posture, and humbug._ Law still remembers how Rosiante explains his photos to him during one of his photo exhibition. Law’s brain would even reiterate those words in his articulated accent, and his nose would occasionally smelt his cologne as the memory of Rosinate emerge. 

‘ _My father might have disclaimed his title, but I will never disclaim my accent_. ‘ Rosinate once explained when Law asked about his accent during a dinner date. Rosinate is always articulated and polished: in his tailored white pants and black cashmere sweater, Rosinate has the type of poise that belongs to those who knows the world has never, and will never, wrong them. He is dazzling — so dazzling that his playboy nature and clumsiness becomes an allure rather than a turnoff. 

_Stop fucking thinking about him_. Law told himself as he opened the fridge.  _Stop fucking thinking about him, think of what to eat._

Kanoian takeaway leftover, half bowl of potato soup from yesterday, dark rye bread that needs to be reheated. Law is not interested in any of the meals and picked up a box of soy milk instead, his eyes looking at the round wooden table  as if Rosiante is sitting in there and looking at him, his hand holding a camera like he always does when he was around.  
  
 _You need to drink milk, mousy_. He always said that when Law asks for plant-based milk. _If you drink enough milk you would not have back pain_. 

‘ Fuck.’ Irritated, Law picked up his phone and dialled the number, his mouth sucking on the plastic straw aggressively. _Fuck it_. 

‘ Who is this.’ The low voice answered in confusion. 

‘ Are you free tonight.’ Law asked, his teeth chewing on the plastic straw. 

‘ Oh…give me a half an hour.’ Kid replied. 

And within fifteen minutes, Kid has arrived at his apartment in a white tee-shirt, a dark brown shearling jacket, and a pair of jeans so worn out it is almost white. His face was slightly red from running, and Law could spot a slight red mark on his neck. 

‘ I am sorry to have disrupted your Friday night hook up.’ Law remarked as he offered him a pair of velvet slippers he stole from an old Austrian hotel. 

‘ Oh… it’s fine. It is ending anyway.’ Seems to have just noticed the kiss mark, Kid reflectively hide it with his palm. ‘ So, what do you want me for?’ 

‘ For a heart-to-heart to chat to talk about our interest, dreams and vulnerability.’ Law said as he reached for his box of soy milk. Surprised by his answer, Kid’s eyes widened as he took off his jacket, his expression seems to be delighted. 

‘ Chill, we are just going to fuck.’ Law said as he squeezed the paper box flat, and his finger folding the edge as the box instructed. 

‘ I thought our arrangement is on Thursday?’ Kid asked. 

Without answering Kid, Law wrapped his arm around Kid and kissed his neck. Kid let out of a soft gasp as Law took a small bite on the hickey, covering the pink mark that the previous lover has left. Ever wild, Kid squeezed Law’s buttocks and carried him up, and Law can feel both of their bulge grew larger as their bodies tangled with each other. Without even questioning the sturdiness of the dinning table, Kid put Law on top of the dining table, his hand started pulling Law’s tee-shirt away from his upper body. 

‘ Are we going to do it here?’ Law asked as he untied a few buttons on Kid’s jeans, his hand slide into his underpants.Kid did not say a word but shoved his lips against Law’s, his head pushing him back to the table again. 

Lying on top of the table, Law looked at the painting hanging on the side of the wall as Kid fingered him: it is an oil paint Jean-Michel Basquiat named ‘ Corozan’. It is rumoured to have been inspired by Rosiante, but Law cannot even identify a human face on the mess of a painting. 

As Kid’s hardened part shoved inside Law's, the beastly man started to thrust. With the windows and wide opened and the standing light on the corner spreading a warm orange light, his neighbours could easily pry on their sex performance — but it does not really matter, it does not matter at all. Law started panting as Kid’s lip caressed against his neck, and his eyes, deep brown at night and beaming with lust, looking at Law’s eyes as if he is going to devour him.

‘ You are so beautiful.’ He said, the sincerity in his tone and the fleck of lascivious in his eyes remind Law of Corozan.  
  
_You are so beautiful, Law._

‘ Shut up and fuck me till we can’t talk.’ Eager to brush off the haunting of the tragic aristocrat, Law cursed. 

And Kid did. 

They have fucked for almost two hours before they have collapsed on their bed, and as usual, Law’s Egyptian cotton bedsheet is drenched in sweat and even spill of blood. Kid has tried to make a conversation ( ‘Do you like robots’) before he fell asleep after thirty seconds, leaving Law staring at the decorated ceiling whilst listening to his bat-like snores, his legs blocking every possible escape route for Law. 

Unlike any other day, Law still kept thinking of Rosinate even after his sexual activity with Kid. Law does not always think of Rosinate that sickly: most of the time his mind is occupied by other affairs, and there is occasionally days like this where he just simply cannot stop thinking about him. It is normally Thursday, and Law always covers his thoughts with sex and use the moan to cover his sadness, even it is a very very brief moment. And Kid does the job well -- his wayward, uninhibited childlike spirit is enough to make Law forget about everything; Kid cannot be more different than Rosinate, and that is what Law needs in his life. 

Law needs anyone but Rosinate, even though he wants Rosinate more than anyone. 

And, as usual, he took out his phone and dialed the number from his muscle memory. He has called the numbers so many time that he does not even have to sensory memories it — he just does. 

‘ This is the mailbox of, _Rosinate_. Please leave a message, deep.’ 

_Rosinate, Rosinate, Rosiante_. Law’s brain kept on repeating his voice. That’s how he sounds like, remember how he said his name, _remember, remember, remember_. 

‘ Could you please come back, Rosy. Please, Goodnight, I miss you. ’ Law uttered out the crumble of words he has been thinking all day long, his voice calm and stationery. He is not quite sure why he calls him every night and with the exact same words — _Please, Goodnight, I miss you_ — but every night by the time he questions himself, he would have already done it. 

‘ The voice mail of _Rosinate_ is full, your voice mail cannot be saved. Please call again later, goodbye. Beep — ’ 

‘ Who is that?’ Seems to be awakened, the curious kid asked. 

‘ My boyfriend, Rosinate. ’ the cruel doctor answered. 


	5. Art exhibition and the art of Confrontation

Champagne, perfume, fake laughter and canapés; watercolors, acrylics, pastels, and oil paint.

The Royal College of Art graduation exhibition is, as usual, crowded with the creme de la creme of the society. Art powerhouse, old money, and nouveau riche were chattering under the white ceiling and artificially tweaked flattering light, busy trying to find out who is the next ‘it’ artist whilst showing off their latest art collection. Usopp was the new Picasso but he is stagnating, no? Yes yes, the other art collector remarked, I heard the new Matisse is someone with the name Goldenweek. 

_They have so much money and yet the coffee is still shit_. Law thought as he took a sip of the caffeinated water in his paper cup, his finger picked up a snail stuffed pastry and popped it into his mouth. 

Law was not quite sure why he is in here, for he is neither a champagne drinker (prefers dark coffee), perfumer sniffer (cologne always), nor art collector (a doctor). He was only invited by virtue of his association with Rosinate Donquixote, and he only attends the event ever year because the graduation exhibition of the Royal College of Art is where Law and Rosinate first met. 

Going to his ex-lover’s venue to think of a past memory is not particularly a healthy behavior, but again Law is not particularly looking for healthiness in life. 

After all, he is only a heart surgeon. 

Law spotted a few familiar faces among the crowd— famous art critic, Bon Clay of Baroque Gallery is eyeing on a ballerina oil paints, his mouth turned down as he told the student how the painting needs more ‘okama sparkle’. Kiku, the beautiful Kanoian from Hanayanagi Gallery is admiring an oddly looking fish ukiyo-e painting in the corner, his red-tinted lips let out an elegant smile as the man in hot pink hair frantically explained the concept of his art ( ‘ A nod to Lucian Feud.’ The mad Kanoian declared, although it makes very little sense) . Cavendish, the aristocratic art collector and Law ex-classmate, was also there, his eyes admiring a piece of artwork known as ‘Narcissist’ as he proudly declares he is the inspiration of this creation. Nico Robin, the representative of Sothebye Arthouse were examining an impressionist piece, her eyes fixated on the artwork as a blue haired security guard busy fending off the flies of men that were trying to approach her. 

Law remembered them because those are the people who used to buy Rosinate’s work. They are always in his studio or exhibitions, their beautiful head trying to lure Rosinate to sign an exclusive deal with them without the extra fee through his extortive agent. Rosinate will only laugh and dodge their advances with elegant ease, he only does arts to express and never for fame, power, or glory. 

Why would one chase for fame, power or glory when they are naturally born with it? 

Born in the powerful Dressrosian aristocracy (with their bloodline traceable to King Riku the I) , the Donquixote banking dynasty has their surname in the board of every major museum. There is even a common phrase for his family - as rich as a Donquixote - and power comes with them when they were anointed by a dip of whiskey from the patriarch Majostard. Despite of the heavyweight that his surname carries, Rosinate was an influential photographer in his own right: he has set up his own studio after a brief stint in Donquixote bank, and with his ability to make the drooping eyelid, idiotically arrogant Goroseis look like silver screen starlings, his first show naturally wowed the society.  
  
He is known as _the_ photographer among the upper crust, with his brilliance covering humanist photos to societal portraits. He took picture of everything that he deemed beautiful, and, naturally, he took a lot of photos of Law: in fact, Law was such a feature in his art that he once has a whole exhibition featuring nothing but Law. It was an absolutely traumatising experience for the blackhead (he was surrounded by the black and white version of himself in every posture, every corner), and Rosinate refused to sell any art piece to the attendee because, well, they are _his_ Law. 

_I love you, Law._ He would say after they had sex, his head lazily lying on top of his head. _You are my muse, my mouse, my everything._

_Stop fucking thinking of Rosinate, Law._

Law stopped in front of an expressionist drawing, his eyes lingering on the vibrant colors and harsh brushstroke on the canvas. It was a portrait of a girl with pale hair and light eyes, her body wearing a Kanoian male kimono instead of a female one. The title is simple: ‘ Artemis of the North ’, the price tag is whited out, and the eyes were captivating. 

‘ I am sorry, but this piece is reserved.’ A boy with long, purple hair swept to one side said, his tone seems genuinely apologetic. 

‘ Oh. It is a pretty piece.’ Law commented as he took a sip of his coffee. _Not like I have enough money to pay anyway_. Law thought as he glanced at the boy: tall with a pair of slender legs, the artist is very much Law’s preferred body type, but the tattoos and eyebrow piercing suggests he is too young and too artistic for his liking. 

_Stop thinking about sex. You have already created enough mess._

Law frowned irritatingly as the thought of Kid comes up to his mind. It has been roughly two weeks since his last sex session with Kid, and Law still remembers Kid’s expression when Law told him he was calling Rosinate, his boyfriend. Law was not lying — Rosinate was his boyfriend — and yet he felt tremendously guilty. It is not the first time Law broke someone’s heart (he is a notorious heart stealer), but for some reason, he could never forget Kid’s face when he heard that Law has a boyfriend: diverted gaze, a slightly reddened cheek, and the lost of twinkles in his eyes. Even how he said ‘ _I should probably leave_ ’ makes Law clench . It is like he is some a saddened puppy, and Law is the heartless culprit. 

_What the fuck is happening to me_. 

It is actually the feeling of empathy, but the idea is so foreign to Law that it is not registered in his vocabulary. 

‘ Pay Pay ! I am here — do you miss me? ’ A girl in pantsuit emerged from behind, the pair of light eyes side-eyed Law before moving back to the purple-haired boy, her voice high-pitched and almost unnecessarily girly. 

‘ No, I would rather if you _miss_ this.’ The purple hair boy replied as he tries to get out of her hug, but the slender figure very soon gives up for his clearly lack the strength to do so. 

‘ Madame Maria, come here — this is pay pay’s portrait for Yamato!’ Ignoring his comment, the girl gestured a tall, elegant woman to come. Cladded in a black kimono, a crocodile skin handbag and decorated in nothing but a pair of perfectly sized round pearls, the woman oozes an understated elegance that belongs to the truly polished and utterly discreet. Having mingled with the high society social set for a brief time, Law can tell the woman comes from money. _Very discreet money_. 

‘ It is my Yamato-jan! How much is it, Page One?’ The madame asked as she clapped her hands. 

‘ It is ok, madame, you don’t have to pay —‘ Page One said as he raised his hand to stop her from reaching for her wallet. 

‘ Nonsense, I will pay 12,000 bellies. Is it enough?’ The woman said, and the pair of siblings mumbled further to stop the woman from paying. 

_12,000 bellies. It is the same amount Rosinate paid for Lami’s drawing_. 

Law thought as he walked away. There is something cliche about how he met Rosinate: his sister, Lami, painted him as one of her graduate showpiece, and Rosinate, who is always invited to this kind of event, stumbled upon her painting and bought it for 12,000 bellies. High price for a graduate student art piece, and certainly the highest price that Lami has ever sold. 

_Oh, it is not too much, I like his eyes._ Law remembers how Rosinate said it as Lami told him he is overpaying, his golden eyes locked at Law’s as he said the word _I like his eyes_. In hindsight, it sounds borderline creepy and perhaps predatory, but at that moment Law was only dum-strucked and knows something will happen between them. Law was young, hopeful and foolish; now he is just old, cynical and still foolish.

‘ Hey! Aren't you Kid's boyfriend.’ A man said as he chunked down a mountain of finger food, his voice pulling Law out from his memory. With his bubble-gum blue braids, a narrow nose, a body shaped like a cornetto, and a pair of sunglasses hiding his eyes, it took Law a long time to realise he is the weird mechanic he met in _Franky Family Machine_.

_The weird mechanic that created Chopper's monstrous tricycle._

‘ You need to stop hoarding the food, Franky. Or else you will get blacklisted _again_ .’ Robin, who was blocked by Franky’s enormous body remarked, her dark eyes shifted to Law and her coral lips broke into a smile. Always elegant, Robin is wearing a tailored Tom Ford dress with pointed heels, her pair of blue eyes beamed as soon as she spotted Law. 

‘ I haven’t seen you for ages Law, how are you?’ She said as she gave Law a half embrace, her lips planting two air kisses on his face and left him a trail of perfume. 

‘ Not bad, desperately trying to find someone I know in here.’ Law smiled politely. 

‘ I don’t think you have met my Franky,’ Robin said as she wrapped her arm around Franky’s tree-trunked-sized arm, ‘ He was kicked out by galleries before so he has to pretend to be my bodyguard today.’ 

_My Franky_ . Law digested the word slowly. _My Franky?_ Law has has so so many questions that he wants to ask but he is too polite to do so. 

‘ We have met.’ Law uttered. 

‘ Wait, Robbie, you know him? ’ Franky said as he lowered his sunglasses, his blue eyes widened. 

‘ I used to buy some artwork from his…’ Robin paused for a while, her heart-shaped lips struggles to find the correct word. ‘ Partner. Law was the feature of some of Rosiante’s most priced work. ’ 

‘ Wait, you have a boyfriend? Then what about Kid? ’ Franky asked defensively, and Robin, ever diplomatic, quickly squeezed his arm which caused Franky let out of a small ouch. 

_What about Kid?_

‘ Rosinate passed away a few years ago. ’ Despite his mild confusion as to the boyfriend part, Law responded politely with a smile. He tends to tune down his emotion when talking bout Rosinate, for it is a topic that people tend to avoid. 

Rosinate was found dead in the toilet in his studio on a winter night (Third Thursday of December, precisely), and autopsy said that he took an overdose of alcohol and barbiturates. Law knew Rosinate’s mind was troubled: the flip side of his brilliance and kindness was deep depression and insecurity, but he never believed Rosinate would kill himself. 

Law loved him, after all. With his heart, his soul, and everything. 

He loved Rosinate so much so that now he has nothing left to offer. 

_What about Kid?_

‘ Oh — ‘ Franky let out a dramatic exclamation and, without missing a bit, he turned to the waiter behind him and grabbed his collar, his strong arm pulled the redhead to their circle. 

‘ Kid, stop hiding behind me, your boyfriend is here.’ Franky remarked, and the Kid, with a slight red rash around his eyes and trembling champagne cup on his tray, exchanged awkward glances with Law. 

_Oh fuck_. 

Standing at the back alley of the redbricked Victorian building, Law leaned against the wall as he took out a cigarette, his other hand impatiently trying to fish out to lighter buried in his pocket. Realising Law’s frustration, Kid took out his lighter , the black painted fingers expertly light up the fire that Law desperately needs. 

_I am not ready for this. I did not come here for this._

‘ So, how are you.’ Law asked as he inhaled his cigarette, his hand offered Kid one of his DEATH cigarette. It is a very edgy name, and Law always felt a bit embarrassed when he asks for a box of DEATH from the newsstand. 

‘ Fucking not well after you told me you had a boyfriend. ’ Kid muttered as he took out the cigarette and put it in his mouth, even the way he put the cigarette between his red lips looks like it could be framed as a movie snapshot. ‘ Why didn’t you tell me he passed away?’ 

‘ I don’t think there is a need.’ Law replied matter of factly. 

_Plus you left like a child before I have a chance to clarify on that matter_. 

‘ Do you always pour your hearts out to everyone you fuck ? It is bloody tiring.’ Ever a private person, Law disguised his thought with another defensive comment.

‘ I am not an animal, of course, I talk after sex.’ Kid answered as he took a puff. Amused by his comment of not being an animal, Law raised his eyebrows; if anything, Kid’s demeanor is almost identical to a wild bear. 

‘ Well, my boyfriend killed himself a few years ago. I still call him my boyfriend because he was my boyfriend when he passes away. ’ Law replied. 

_And I still love him_. Law omitted. 

‘ Are you satisfied now, Eustass?’ Feeling rather uneasy, Law started to avoid looking at the pair of bright eyes ; he doesn’t want to see another apologetic frown or an empathetic smile.

‘ No. Fuck you, Trafalgar. That does not give you a permit to be a dick.’ Kid retorted, and unexpected of this response, Law burst out of laughter. In fact, he has laughed so hard that it nearly turned into hyperventilation; with no sympathetic eyes or awkward apologies, Kid’s reaction is hilariously crass and oddly comforting. 

_Well, you did fuck me quite often_. Law thought as he wiped off some excessive tears, his brain still digesting the brilliance of Kid’s unwary response. 

‘ I am opening up to you now, aren’t I.’ Law said. ‘Besides, it is not the most appropriate post-sex chitchat.’ 

The most appropriate post-sex chitchat for Law is no chitchat. 

‘ We don’t need to just meet up for sex. We can meet up for coffee or something. ’ Kid gruntled as he stubbed the cigarette on the trash can, his tone sounds like a boy throwing tantrum rather than a grown man trying to express himself. 

Judging by Kid’s outlook, Law suspect Kid drinks a mix of energy drink with gasoline rather than normal drinks for human consumption. 

‘ Why would I agree to that? We barely know each other.’ Law sneered, but he soon finds himself regretting his harsh words. It made him feel weird when he is venting his anger or disparity on Kid.

‘ My name is Kid Eustass, I am twenty-five and my brother is Franky Eustass. I did not go to university, I play in a band and I work as a mechanic. I am banned from Goa because I fucked the diplomatic wife, son, and mistress in that sequence.' Kid said as he stared at the road oppostie to them. 

_Legend._ Law thought, slightly impressed by Kid's ability to have sexual relationships with an entire household without feeling slightly immoral. 

' I got a scar from the Red-haired gang because I called Shank a ginger. Also probably because I wrecked his race-car. ’ Kid said, and Law can sense his gaze shifted to him. ‘ And I know you would agree to that because you want to.’ 

‘ Now you know me better now, don’t you?’ Kid asked in his normal wayward manner. 

‘ Aren’t you confident. ’ Not directly rejecting his observation, Law smirked. 

Without saying a word, Kid grabbed the backdoor handle behind and pinned his body against Law, his clothing smells like a hint of tobacco. Kid lowered his head to look at Law’s face as the pair of red lips cracked into a wide smile. For a brief moment, Law thought he was going to kiss him, and he could felt his face growing slightly hot. 

‘ Call me when you want to date, Trafalgar. ’ Kid smirked as he opened the door, his expression clearly suggesting he deemed this as his victory.

‘ You mean _if_ ?’ Law asked as he took a final buff of his cigarette. 

‘ No, I meant when.’ Kid said as he slammed the back door. 

_Fuck you too, Kid Eustass_. 

Law thought, and a smirk uncontrollably emerged from his lips. 


	6. Shakky's Rip-off Bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never expected this to get this many views and Kudos- I am so happy that you guys like it ( ͡ಥ ͜ʖ ͡ಥ)

Kid was staring at the mustard ceiling when Bonney, his ex-lover and the band’s manager, helped him to draw a thick eyeliner on his lower eyelid, with the rest of his bandmate busy snorting white lines and tuning their instruments, their drug-addled heads listening to the noises leaking through the thin wall and estimating how many people turned up for their performance.   
  
The Garage Kids are getting ready for their night in Shakky's Rip-off, a dive bar in North of Lothiam where they regularly perform. It is also the place where Kid has his first bar fight, Apoo has his first blow job, and the bar that allegedly took Hawkin's ' Dive Bar virginity', whatever that is.  
  
' Line?' Heat asked lazily as he pointed at the three white lines he drew on the table, and Kid waved his hand to decline the offer. 

Much to everyone’s surprise, Kid has never done any hard drugs. He dabbles on weed and amphetamines, but he never got into anything as hardcore as cocaine or meth. He is well aware of the fact that his childhood friend, Deer Shang, is one of the most on-demand drug maker in the market — he once saw her in one of those secretly pop-up raves in a latex nun suit selling drugs whilst claiming everyone will get so high they will see God — but he simply has so much energy that he does not need extra any chemicals to feel happy or energetic.

To put it in other words, Kid Eustass is crazy as he is. 

‘ Alvida told me you are dating some posh doctor.’ Bonney said as her heavily mascaraed eyes gazed into Kid's. ‘ She said you are in love.’ 

‘ Your point being? ’ Kid replied. He never had much patience for Bonney Jewel: she is attractive no doubt, but Kid finds her voice and her need to post everything on social media irritating. He would not say Bonney is vain, for she is quite shrewd when it comes to handling the band bookings and financial matters, but he just never _liked_ her. In fact, he dislikes her so much so that he nearly forgot they have briefly dated for three months. 

‘ It’s just funny.’ Bonney pouted slightly as she dug out a Maybelline lip balm from her make up bag. It is the type of lip balm that has a tainted colour, and Bonney loves to use it on Kid to make him look more alive. 

Kid’s beauty comes from Maybelline, if you consider whatever he looks like fits into the definition of ‘beauty’. 

‘ What’s so funny about that?’ Kid asked, his eyebrows slightly frowned. He never found his love for Law funny. It is just love — there is nothing hilarious about love. 

‘ The idea of you having the capability to fall in love. Have you ever loved anyone rather than yourself? ’ Bonney replied defensively. She had the habit of speaking whatever that came to her mind, and it often offends a lot of her acquaintance, and probably a lot more if she weren’t moderately attractive. 

‘ That’s quite hypocritical coming from you, Bonney.’ Killer, who was sitting at the other side of the sofa said, his hand turned his phone to show Kid Bonney’s newest selfie post on her Instagram. 

‘ _It’s good to be back_ , hashtag with the boys, harshtag Garage Kids?’ Apoo read her caption out loud. ' Mate, if you are promoting the band, at least include us in?' 

‘… Did you just take a commemorative selfie in the toilet we fucked?’ Kid said.Kid also has the unfortunate habit of speaking whatever that came to his mind which made him got punched _a lot_. 

‘ Shut up!’ Bonney shouted as she tries to took away Killer's phone. ‘ Is the doctor here tonight?’ 

‘ No. ‘ Kid replied as he stood up, the vintage repairman jumpsuit made an odd noise as it scratches with the plastic-covered sofa. The Garage Kids wore the same brown jumpsuits whenever they are on stage because, according to Bonney, it makes them look sexier and generates more likes on social media. 

Whatever that works.   
  
_Why would he be here_. Kid thought as grabbed a packet of salted almond nuts from the table. It has been a few weeks since his brief encounter with Law, and Kid has been waiting for Law’s text ever since then. He checks his phone whenever he gets up, on a lunch break, or in the loo, and he even started hearing imaginary text notifications noises even though the phone was dead silence. The only person that texted him is Doflamingo pizza, and Kid was so frustrated by the text that he nearly threw the phone to the wall ( he momentarily calmed down when he realised it is a text offer for buy one get one free Tuesday and order a seafood supreme instead). 

He was very confident that Law would text him, and the fact that Law simply disappeared after the exhibition made Kid felt frustrated. Kid has never faced rejection before, and the fact that Law, a person that he is deeply infatuated with rejects him just made him feel more infuriating. Despite being twenty-five, Kid possesses the mentality of a boy that has just started their puberty, and the socio-economical difference between them just made him felt more insecure about their future. 

_Why would Law text you? Everyone wants to fuck him -- he can just find someone else._

Angered by his thought, Kid poured the whole pack of almond straight to his mouth, his teeth started chewing it like an angry chipmunk. 

‘ You like nuts that much?’ Hawkins looked up from his piano, and Heat, amidst his cocaine haze, chuckled at the word ‘ _nuts_ ’. 

‘ Garage Kid, you guys are in five.’ Rayleigh popped his head into the room, his eyes locked at Kid’s nuts filled mouth and gave him a judgemental gaze. ' What is this.' Rayleigh asked as he nodded towards Kid's general direction. 

' Boyfriend didn't text back.' Killer commented. 

‘ ... ' Rayleigh shrugged to indicate that he did not care at all. 'Don’t fuck up the stage like last time for "experimental punk rock" you little shits. ’ 

_Don’t think of Law Trafalgar._ Kid thought as he adjusted the microphone stand. Some girls giggled as his eyes met with hers, with some standing there giving them a supportive grin. With the Garage Kid regularly playing in Lothiam and listing their music in Spotify, they actually started having a regular crowd that would attend their shows. Kid loved giving performance — for him, music is as enjoyable as mechanics, but only with more attention and more go boosting. He particularly liked the adrenaline rush that it gives him: he is the star of the show, and that feeling is better than any drugs on earth. 

If anything, it is also the most addictive drug that one can legally taste. 

After Killer tested his drum with his legendary run down, the rest of his teammate gave Kid a nod, and the show is going to begin. 

Kid has decided he will not let Law disrupt his night: fuck Law Trafalgar, metaphorically, of course, because it cannot happen in the literal sense. 

‘ We are the Garage Kids.’ Kid announced in his raspy voice, and the crowd let out of a round of screams and cheers. He grinned as the music started playing, and Kid started to sing. 

For whatever reasons, Kid possesses a certain magnetic charm when he is on stage: he would move and bounce around, and his smile, often smirky rather than genuine, looks extra dazzling under the bright stage night. He is, of course, unaware of that — everything comes naturally for Kid: his ability to perform, his talent for mechanics, his bewitching charm for both men and women. And his voice, with its odd childish undertone, can always make the room dance and fire up the atmosphere. And there comes the final touch of his magnetic charm: he is so unaware of it that the non-nonchalance somehow made him extra irresistible on stage.

‘ Your eyes follow like a spotlight, two eyes like the sun. Go ahead keep your distance from me, soon you're gonna come.’ Kid danced along as he sang to the microphone, his eyes glanced at the front row and caused another roar of scream. They are probably relating themselves to the lyrics and are unaware of the fact that Kid was thinking of a certain doctor he wrote the lyrics. 

_Distract yourself._

_‘_ That game that you're running, baby. You’ve already won. _’_ Apoo and Heat started dancing to the rhythm, and Kid shifted his gaze to the far back of the room. It is a trick he learned to make the room felt more engaged: to always make eye contact with the back and smiled at them like it is only for their eyes. 

And then, just as the pair of light hazel eyes looked across the room, he can't help but notice a chubby deer floating on the crowd. 

_What._

Upon second glance Kid realised that it is a deer mink sitting on top of a man. The deer's round body was leaning towards the head like some sort of a lazy cat, his small hand cheering along with the music as the man underneath it stared at Kid, his face turned ghastly pale. 

_Law?  
  
No, no way, it __m_ _ _ust_ be imagination. _   
  
Kid continue his singing as he moved his eyes to another troupe of screaming girls ( and a bob-haired man in heavy mascara winking at him), his gaze shifted back just to reconfirm the thought of Law standing in a bar with a deer on top of his head is a hallucination. 

_It must be a hallucination._

And there it is, Law Trafalgar, in his dark hair and a beige sweatshirt, his light lips shut to a tight straight line and his eyes widened in shock. Kid cannot help but smirked, his conscious trying hard to restrain his laughter and continue with the performance. 

_I can’t, I want to laugh._ _  
  
_ You can be cool, you can be shy. Say what you want, say what you like; Cause ooh, your body talks, your body talks _.’_ He turned his face to engage with the other side of the crowd. The lyrics were written after Law and he sucked each other off in a toilet, but rather than that inspiring risqué moment, all that Kid can think of is Law’s expression with the deer on his head. 

Unable to control his facial expression, Kid smiled uncontrollably and his eyes twinkled. Noticing his change of expression, the crowd went into another wild scream, with someone shouting ' Marry me Kid' or ' Have my kids, Kid!' which made Kid cringed. 

‘ I need to know, what do you need, need, need? What do you like, like, like? ’Cause I'm gonna be it tonight.’ Kid smiled to the microphone as his eyes locked with Law: the crowd screamed, and Law blushed. 

Law Trafalgar is here, and suddenly everything is better. 

During the interlude, where the other band, the Calamities, was performing funky electronic music (the balloon-shaped man announced the trianglist is not here because ' of BDSM emergency and general suck-assness'), Kid quickly sneaked to the back and grabbed Law before the cat attempted to flee again. 

‘ What are you doing here?’ Kid asked excitedly, his mind secretly hoping Law came here for him. 

‘ My colleague dragged me to here, your brother was trying to make him more _gangsta_? ’ Law replied unassuredly, his thumb pointed to the bar area where Franky was carrying the deer in one arm to facilitate him to order drinks. Mr.Pink, Franky’s drinking buddy was standing next to him, his eyes noticed Kid and gave Kid a thumbs up. 

_Oh, not for me_. Kid thought, and it does not take Sherlock Holmes to notice that he is saddened by Law’s response. 

‘ The song is good. It is catchy.’ Law commented, his tone sounds more of an observation than an actual compliment. The pair of yellow eyes, bright as a gemstone, shifted to the other side as he clenched his perfectly straight teeth. ‘ You look charming on stage.’ 

_You look charming on stage._

Kid was so dumbstruck by the statement that he did not digest the ten other lame justifications that Law mumbled ( it is very reasonable because the lighting is meant to be flattering, your brown jumpsuit suggests it is for stage performance and compliments your skin). 

_You look charming on stage._

_You look charming.  
_

_Charming._

_Charm._

_Charn._

_I got a CHANCE!_

No one can quite understand Kid’s thinking process, and if anyone can understand it, it is questionable if they are functional as a human being at all. 

‘ Are you going to stay here for the night?’ Kid asked as he grabbed onto both of Law’s slender arms, he lips wide as a Cheshire cat. ‘ We are going to perform one more song and we will have an after-party — you want to join?’ 

By after-party, Kid really meant getting high in the warehouse garage and play video games, but the term after party certainly makes him sound cooler and more professional than the reality. 

‘ We will see.’ Law said, his eyebrows slightly frowned. And just as Kid was going to continue his persuasion, Killer, still in white helmet and with a crowd of girls gathered around him, came in and tapped on his arm, his head tilted to Law’s direction before getting back to Kid. 

‘ Bonney wants you back. Our set will begin in ten.’ Killer remarked. 

‘ Oh.’ Kid crinkled his nose as he looked at the stage, where Bonney the party ruiner folded her arm around her chest, her pink eyebrows raised disapprovingly. 

‘ Stay - I will be back as soon as the performance ended.’ Kid muttered as he walked back towards the stage, his heart fluttered with the compliment that Law gave him. 

_I am charming_. 

He turned back occasionally to check on Law, and he is so nervous about Law's potential disappearance that he was still staring at Law by the time he got back on the stage. 

‘ Fucking hell Kid, just turn your face for a second so that I can refill your lip balm.’ Bonney complained, her body stood in front of Kid in a dangerously close manner. She likes to stand close to Kid whenever she is on stage: Bonney is the type of girl that needs to make every girl in the room jealous to make sure she is still on top of the pecking order. 

‘ You can move, right?’ Ignoring her demand, Kid’s continue to face his direction towards Law. Kid noticed that whenever he stared at Law for too long, Law would break the eye contact by looking at the ceiling, but the bright-eyed cat would occasionally peak and check whether Kid was still staring, his high cheekbone blush in rosy pink when he realized the pair of hazel eyes was, and is always, fixated on him. 

_He is so cute_. 

Kid winked at his directions, and despite some girls thought it was for them and giggled, Law only stared back with a hardened gaze, his finger raised to show him the ‘ A’ letter tattoo. 

_He is so fucking cute._

The Garage Kid performed the last song, ’ Freak like us’, for two rounds before they ended the show by a cover version of some pop-rock song. And when Kid sang the line ‘ We will teach you how to make boys next door out of assholes’, Law smiled, and Kid nearly fainted. 

The smile was the most beautiful thing Kid has ever seen: It is the type of smile that makes the world stop and makes everyone fall in love. Beamed eyes, curved lips, and straightened teeth, it is as if Law was laughing at an inside joke that only the two of them know. 

_I am in love._

As usual, the band stayed behind and chatted with the swamp of fans. As the lead singer and the star of the show, Kid was trapped among a bunch of drunken college girls, yet his mind was so into Law that he even ignored the paper slip that a particularly curvy girl slid to him. 

Guess it is Law who makes a boy next door out of an arsehole. 

However, the maker of ' ex arsehole' was not in his spot when the crowd descended. Slightly irritated, Kid frantically scanned through the room, only found the slender cut of elegance tucked at the corner of the bar, his body hiding behind Franky as the two gigantic men, along with the ballooned blonde from the Calamities, cheered on the deer to finish a chocolate milk shot. 

‘ Why are you hiding in here.’ Kid shoved his body right between Law and Franky, his hand grabbed on his beer and took a sip of it.

_Bink's, not a bad choice. Don't know posh people drinks beer._

‘ I don’t want to disrupt you with your fans.’ Law snatched his bottle back, and, in a much lower mumble, he added: ’Or your fling.’ 

‘ What?’ Kid raised his eyebrows, he was not quite sure if he heard the words correctly. 

_Fling who?_

‘ The pink-haired girl.’ Law wiped the beer foam off his lips, his face once again blushed. Suspecting he might be drunk, Kid cannot help but grab his chin and stop him from moving, and his eyes looked directly into the pair of flaxen eyes. 

_Is he drunk?_ He thought, his face leaned closer to sniff the smell around his neck. _No strong smell of puke or alcohol, probably tipsy._

‘ Are you a fucking dog?’ Embarrassed by the sudden closeness, Law grabbed on Kid's hand and wiggled it. 

‘ I cut out all of my sexual contacts after I met you.’ Kid said as he cupped the chalky face with his large hands. ‘ Are you jealous?’ 

‘ Fuck off, you are holding me too tight.’ Law complained as he wiggled his hand even more aggressively. 

_He is just like a cat._ Kid grinned, and, out of reflex, he pecked on his forehead. It was a soft and unexpected gesture,and Law paused for a brief moment before he realised what had happened, his hands quickly shoved towards Kid’s chest and pushed him away. 

‘ You got lipstick on, Kid. This is not hygienic.’ Law complained as he rubbed the sticky stain with his sweater shades, but the rosiness of his cheeks has given his true feeling away. 

' Come meet the band, they are cool.’ Kid asked excitedly. He could even show Law his robot collection — no one can resist his robot collection. 

The only person that was impressed by his robot collection is Franky and a five-year-old boy called Luffy, and they are, by their very nature, more of a partially-evolved chimpanzee rather than a human being. 

‘ No.’ Law replied in his monotone. 

_Oh, maybe he is not into me._

‘ I got a shift tomorrow.’ Law explained as Kid finally loosened his hands. ‘ It has been quite busy in the practice these weeks, some gang wars going on between the Dressrossian, I only slept for 2 hours per day on average.’ 

_That’s why he didn’t call_. 

' Plus I have to send him home.' Law nodded towards the deer, who has at this point got so drunk that he started dancing with Franky and the blonde balloon. 

‘ I will see you around.’ Law pulled the drunken, fluffy adorable mink out of the equally drunken masculine mess, his other hand waved towards Kids without turning back. 

‘ Have you seen Franky's brother?’ Chopper mumbled as his chubby legs stumbled on the wooden floor, and Law quickly picked him up and carried him in his arm. ‘ You only came here after you know Kid is per — ’ 

‘ CHOPPER YOU ARE DRUNK.’ Law loudly declared as he muffed the deer’s head towards his chest, and Kid can felt a swamp of butterflies exploding inside his stomach. 

_He is into me._ Kid’s eyes widened. 

‘ Kid — we are leaving.’ Killer from the far end of the stage announced as he tapped on the microphone. ‘ Are you done with your boyfriend yet? This isn’t some chick flick, either get banging or get going.’ 

Upon hearing the word 'boyfriend' , the pair of seashell shaped ears instantly turned pink, and Law practically flew towards the exit as soon as he heard the word banging. 

_He is into me._

‘ Yo, Trafalgar.’ Kid shouted as Law reached the door. ‘ Let’s go on a date next time.’ 

‘ Fuck off, Eustass.’ Law turned back to flip him off, but despite the shade of sun-burnt red that was comedically spread across Law's face, Kid can spot a small smirk from the corners of his lips. 

_HE IS INTO ME!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) I was listening to the Struts' ' Body Talks' when I was typing this (and I used their lyrics because I am terrible at writing lyrics). Go check it out they are cool ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖)
> 
> (2) Wrote this because I just suddenly felt inspired ( as if I was struck by the in inspired moodlet from Sims 4). It is at late night where I am living, so there is probably a lot of typos... WELP.
> 
> (3) Hope you enjoyed this new chapter - I think it is considered as fluff? I am not quite sure and am too old to understand the internet lingo. 
> 
> Bye, love you, creepy stranger ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	7. Brief Encounter in the Flamingo

Law often wonders why did Rosinate love him. 

This thought comes up more often when Law was dragged into one of those Friday drinks with his high school friends, Penguin and Shachi, in one of those bar with neon signs tucked inside the burnt-orange wall of the Acacia, the district where Dressrossians tend to frequent.  
  
It tends to remind Law of the difference between him and the cut of elegance known as Rosinate.

Grew up in a humble middle-class household,Law went to a private school that is only reputable within his hometown, made friends with people of inconsequential heritage, and his childhood home is filled with artwork his parents bought from an unknown artist during their third family trip to Florian. Both his parents were doctors (GP, to be specific), and his sister, Lami,has somewhat of an artistic talent but never the flair or the tragical tendency to become the next Bacon.

The only thing that is outstanding about Law, as he so firmly beliefs, is his ability to digest information. That made him a star student with a scholarship in Oxton, but compare to his peers, such as the cashless aristocrat Deer Shang (her flair for toxicology and her unassuming charm saved a lot of her modules) or the Grecian beauty Fabius Cavendish (whom he had briefly dated but broke up because he can only fuck in front of a mirror ), Law believes he is utterly average.  
  
Of course, Law’s perception of himself is biased: top of Oxton for all academic years, he once performed heart surgery on the Duke of Lothiam and is registered as the designated heart surgeon for near every grant families, earning him the liberty to be a doctor in a small clinic without worry for any liquidity. 

Rosinate, one the other hand, is a different breed. For one, he never needs to care about money: he was he grew up in a chateau named _King’s Plateau,_ seating on a hefty trust fund by virtue of his surname. His family does not just _buy_ art -- the Donquixote was so shrewd that they opened their own museum just so they can auction their art collection then buy it back just for tax purpose. Rosinate himself went to a few boarding schools ( Wellington and La Rosey) before ending up in Harrigde for an Italian degree ( he knows six languages). A physical embodiment of the term ‘ tall, dark and handsome’, he carries himself in an insouciant manner that belongs to those who knows life will never wrong him, and he has the confident charm that only a public schoolboy would posses. His family has his own problem, of course, but even the problem is so colourful that it could make an excellent movie rather than a banal tragedy.

In fact, they made one for it: it is called _Al Doffy_. 

Rosinate could have dated a lot of people, and he was still dating a lot of people when he was with Law, but Law is the chosen one, the official one, the _only_ one (technically).  
  
Law is Rosinate’s, and Rosinate was Law’s. 

_What did he sees in me? People like him would never date people like me._ Law thought when he was dating Rosinate, and he is still thinking of it even after Rosiante died. 

‘ So, do you have a girlfriend?’ One of those girls who somehow joined their group asked, snapping Law out of his thought. Law looked up from his drink and glanced at her, his eyes finding her low neckline and cherry lip gloss aesthetically offensive rather than appealing. 

Law always hated drinking in a public place for this reason: there will always be some girls trying to chime in, and Penguin and Shachi would behave like a pair of dogs seeking for attention, whilst Law would brush off those girls like a cat swaying off flies. He does admire feminine beauty, but he only find very selective few beautiful. For instance, he liked Nico Robin’s immaculately polished type of beauty, but he heaves at the model Komurasaki zealously glamourised and cutesy type of vanity.  
  
And he never liked unnecessary skin exposure or cherry lip gloss. 

‘No.’ Law took a sip of his beer, his eyes turned to look at the menu to search for something to eat. _Deep-fried prawns, fries, churros_. Law would much prefer something that will not cause him to operate heart surgery on himself. 

‘ Cool,’ the girl giggled (Law does not understand what is funny) as she sat closer, her finger brushing her orange curls to the back of her ear. ‘My name is Nami, by the way. ’ 

‘ Okay.’ Not intended to give out his name or to make any further conversation, Law shifted his gaze to the TV screen. It is a cooking channel from a major broadcast it is demonstrating how to make authentic egg fried rice; they even found a Kanoian to teach it to make the recipe looks more authoritative.  
  
He could do some egg fried rice now. Ramen or egg fried rice, maybe some corn soup would be great. 

‘ Are you shy? I like it when guys are shy.’ Nami said as she leaned her body closer to Law, and he could felt her breast pressing against his arms. 

Law was going to tell her he is gay, but felt like it might turn the group dynamic slightly awkward ( Penguin and Shachi is busy fighting for attention from a blue-haired girl), and he simply replied he is tired; given the permanent shadow underneath his eyes, people often find this reason very convincing. 

‘ Poor you — are you still in university?’ Nami took a sip of her orange coloured cocktail through the curly straw.  
  
‘ No.’  
  
‘ I am from _Santa Syrup_ , guess what I major in?’ 

‘ Communication?’ He replied. _With a minor sucess in life_. 

‘ OMG how do you know ?’ Nami giggled andshowed her perfectly whitened teeth.  
  
Law almost said that by the way she talks, the way she carries herself, and the fact she uses OMG non sarcastically makes it evident that she does not read any _real_ subject, but he has refrained from doing so. Throughout his life he has been hit on by enough girls to recognise their types: he can even tell where did the girl go to whitened her teeth (Whitejack dentist just around the corner, operating inside the beauty parlour) or buy her jeans ( CRIMINAL from the department store but clearly out of season).But he was told he could be snobbish, and therefore he is trying to be a better version of himself, or at least his proximity of that. 

‘ Excuse me.’ Eager to leave the table, Law stood up from the high stool and walked to the toilet — he does not really need to go to the loo (he has not eaten anything for the whole day), but he cannot stay in the same room and have pointless conversation with some overly keen university girls any further. 

However, Law nearly bolted out of the toilet as he soon as he pushed the wooden door.  
  
_Oh fuck._  
  
In front of the pink ink and turquoise tile is Dolfamingo Donquixote, the older brother of his ex-lover, his nose snorting in a thin white line at the back of his hand, his other hand holding the edge of the sink for support. Despite of the palmy weather, he was wearing a huge feather overcoat with an unbottoned hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts, his pair of sunglasses seems to have no use underneath the flouriscent light. Noticing the door’s opening, the blonde looked up with annoyance, and his lips remained down turned as he sees Law. 

‘ Oh, it is you.’ Doflamingo remarked disinterestedly, his finger brushed the residual power off his nose. 

With no desire to say any word, Law stood in the urinal located at the end of the toilet, his brain trying to think of other things to make him ignore the gigantic man.  
  
The egg fried rice on TV screen, Tuesday surgery in hospital, Kid Eustass and his smile… _Kid Eustass?_ Even the mention of his name on his brain makes his thought fluster again. 

‘ You are not being very polite, you know. This is _my_ area.’ Displeased with Law’s blatant disregard, Doflamingo commented. 

‘ That explains the kitschness.’ Law said as he let out of a stream of pee. He should have guessed it from the front of the bar — it states _Famingo’s_ in bright pink neon lights for god sake. 

‘ I am not as tasteful as my brother.’ Doflamingo laughed frustratedly. ‘ really, are you going to be like this whenever you sees me?’ 

‘ It’s not like we are close, so let’s pretend we don’t know each other and let me live my life.’ Law said after he zipped up his pants, his sneakers dragged towards the sink and washed his hand with a depressing bar of soap.  
  
He also angrily flicked some drops of water to Doflamingo’s overcoat in which he seems to have barely noticed. 

‘ But we do know each other, and if you want to live your life, you need to live with the fact that we know each other.’Doflamingo readjusted his overcoat and his hand brushed through his wheat blonde hair. Spotted that Law is approaching the toilet door, he spoke louder to grasp the last bit of his attention.

‘ I did not kill Rosinate, you know. Hating on me will not make you any less guilty. You either blame both of us or none of us, but for my understanding, we both know we do no wrong.’

_We both know we do nothing wrong_.  
  
_Fuck off._

Law closed his eyes to constrain himself from thinking about Rosinate’s death once again. He does not plan to dwell on him this frequently, and he felt like keeping thinking about his death sometimes cheapened his sadness for Rosinate. It is as if the more frequent that he felt sad about Rosinate, the more it numbs the feeling of sadness itself.And when Law cannot feel sad or use other things to cover sadness, he will start blaming and hating on himself. 

‘ I just learnt that the man that I was in love with betrayed me.’ The redbird said, clearly high on cocaine at this point.  
  
‘ I suppose people like us are not meant to be loved. We are fucked beyond repair.’ He further confessed, as if he has some sort of a spiritual connection with Law. 

‘ I am not you, Doffy. Go fuck yourself.’ With no interest to deal with Doflamingo or fall for his trap to talk any longer, Law dropped his his word before leaving the toilet.  
  
Ignoring his friends and girls, Law walked straight out to the main door, his hand searching for the box of cigarettes in his pocket.He can feel his breath going faster and his heart rate rising, his throat gasping for air and dying to leave the hubbub area.  
  
He needs to breathe. He always needs to breathe after he saw Doflamingo; not in the romantic sense that he took his breath away, but more like his presence triggers so many bad memories that it drove Law into anxiety.  
  
Desperate for nicotine or an alternative, Law pushed his hand inside his pocket and dug out his phone, his hand dialed a number for the alternative nicotine. 

‘ Do you want to eat together tonight? ’ Law said, his tone sounds more like a declaration than a request. 

‘ Why so sudden?’ Kid asked in an irritated tone. 

‘ Don’t ask, just come.’ Law plead. ‘ Please.’ He added to make himself sound softer.  
  
‘ Okay. Where are you?’ Kid answered in his deep voice, and Law suddenly felt so relieved.  
  
He told him the address and cut off the phone. Feeling rather awkward to stand in front of a bar and doing nothing, he took out his cigarette box for a smoke: the best way to cope with depression — cover it with an addiction, and when one waits for the addiction, take another compensation.  
  
‘ You still haven’t told me your name.’ After a brief while, the orange head once again re-emerged from the entrance, her brown eyes stared at Law, and the neon light covered her bikini-denim shorts-wearing body in a ghastly shade of fuchsia.  
  
_Fuck, why cant she leave me alone._

‘ I intended to stay that way. ’ Law deeply inhaled the cigarette, his head tilted as he breath out, ensuring the gaslight from the thin glass tube would be blurred. 

‘ Why? Are you scared of girls like me?’ Nami flirted even more aggressively.  
  
The truth is, Law is not scared by girls like her; rather, as a germaphobe, Law is horridly disgusted by her. 

‘ Look, you are clearly attractive, but I am not interested in you, so leave me alone?’ Law said irritatedly, his mind wondering how long does it take for Kid to come and pick him.  
  
He could have taken a cab or bus, of course, but Law has no cash in his wallet, and he is too lazy to walk home. 

‘ Who are you waiting for? Your girlfriend?’ Seems to be the type that never gives in, the girl persisted and leaned closer. Law, in return, inched way away from her, his face getting more zombie-like with each step he took.  
  
_May I should say I am waiting for my boyfriend_. Law thought, even though he was not technically dating Kid, it does not hurt in this situation.  
  
‘ I am waiting for my boy — ’ Just as Law opened his mouth, a motorbike stopped in front of then, and the loud car engine disrupted the unwanted conversation. Standing in front of the line of pink mustang and bright pink mustangs ( Doflamingo truly has questionable taste) is a tall, brawny figure with a wildly looking dark motorbike, his body wearing a shearling jacket and washed out jeans, the whole aesthetic looks rugged mad-max like Knight from the street. 

‘ Oi, Nami. Stop bothering him, he’s mine.’ Kid shouted as he took off his helmet, revealing his red hair and slightly reddened cheek.   


_No, I’m not yours._ Law complained internally, himself questioning what kind of childish mind Kid posses. 

‘ You are dating Kid Eustass?’ Nami squealed, her eyes turned to stare at Law.  
  
‘ … Yes.’ Law admitted, even though they never quite officially dated.  
  
‘ You know her?’ He asked Kid.  
  
‘ We grew up in the same orphanage.’ Kid said as he took out an extra safety helmet. ‘ She came here with her girlfriend to flirt with posh twat then steal their wallet. Haven’t you heard of the name cat thief? That’s her.’  
  
‘ I am not a subscriber of street name daily.’ Law replied sarcastically. ‘ Wait, I am the posh twat?’ 

‘ Don’t flatter yourself too much. Your wallet has no cash — what kind of a man goes to the bar without cash? ’ Nami also arched up her perfectly groomed eyebrow, her almond finger threw him back his wallet. ‘ That’s not posh, I have seen homeless with more cash than you.’  
  
_Ouch.  
  
‘ _ Also, next time just say you are gay, dickhead.’ She raised her middle finger lowering her eyelid and stuck out her tongue to him. She then turned back to the entrance, her auburn hair turning heads as she gets back in the crowd. 

‘ Wait — don’t fucking steal my friends' wallets.’ Law shouted to ensure she can hear it.  
  
‘She is probably just gonna force your friends to buy overpriced drinks for them.’ Kid commented as he leaned on his bike, his copper coloured eyes looked at Nami and smirked. ‘ I think she kind of likes you before you tell her you are gay.’  
  
Law rolled his eyes slightly, he is not particularly flattered by the fact that someone from Santa Syrup liking him — their frat are basically one massive overly testosterone orgy.  
  
‘ So,’ His eyes shifted to Law as Nami disappeared to the crowd. ‘ Where do you want to eat?’  
  
‘ Do you know any good Kanoian place? Somewhere with good egg fried rice.’ Law asked. He is starving at this point and the cooking show on the TV really makes him crave Kanoian cuisine.

‘ I can cook for you if you want.’Kid said. ‘ I learned it from Dee’s father, apparently it is what the Kano King eat.’  
  
‘ Kano uses an emperor.’ Law corrected him with his year 11 world history knowledge. ‘ And I don’t think he eats egg fried rice.’  
  
‘ If the Queen eats cereal why can’t the Emperor eats egg fried rice? It is just probably made with peacock egg and gold and shit.’ Kid debated in his deep voice. And with a very limited Kanoian history background, Law decided to give Kid the benefit of the doubt — he is too hungry to argue at this point.  
  
‘ Okay, I will try.’ Law said as he wanted to grab the spare helmet Kid was holding, but suddenly think of something, Kid raised the helmet to the air, his red lips smirked.  
  
‘ What now, Eustass.’ Law contested irritatingly, his feet tiptoed to grab the helmet.  
  
‘ It is a date, right?’ Kid asked, his smile widened. And even when he smirks, Kid still managed to look like some kind of a rock star rather than a douche.  
  
‘ I will only drive you if you admit it is a date.’ Kid added.  
  
‘ …It is a date.’ Law said as monody as possible, and Kid dropped his hand to make him catch the helmet. Law was not quite sure how to wear it, but he nonetheless attempted; and with him dwelling on the safety strap for a few minutes, Kid gave in and took over Law, his rough hands helping him to readjust the safety strap as his eyes locked at his lower chin, the glances so low as if they were to kiss.  
  
‘I will tell our kids you are the one who initiated our date.’ Said Kid as he pulled the safety strap to ensure it is tightened.  
  
‘ It is hard for unmarried cohabitants to adopt, Kid.’ Law remarked. ‘ And Lothiam did not admit same sex marriage.’  
  
He knew because he checked it with Rosinate.  
  
‘ What.’ Kid’s eyes and mouth widened in shock, his expression seems genuinely shocked as if he has just been told Santa is not real, and Law can almost hear the sound of his broken dream.  
  
‘ Wait, but are you admitting we could be a couple?’ Seems to have the tendency to find the brightest thing even in the saddest place, Kid’s eyes brightened and his expression resumed back to the happy, smiley face that he posses.  
  
_Fucking hell, why did I agree to date this guy._

_‘_ Go, Eustass. I am starving.’ Law mumbled as he sat at the back of the bike, and Kid readjusted the safety goggles on to his nose bridge as he sat at the front, his feet stepped on the front brake and the bike let out of a loud vroom. Having never been on a bike before, Law wrapped his arms around Kid’s waist, his face half-buried to the soft suede of his jacket as he felt the hard abdominal muscle around his arms.  
  
_I can finally breathe._  
  
‘ You know you can hold the handle next to you, right?’ Kid looked back as he grinned widely.  
  
‘ Fuck off. I don’t trust your driving skills nor the fragile handle.’ Law argued, his hand still wrapped around Kid’s waist as his face slightly blushed, secretly glad that no one can see his face with the helmet on.  
  
And with Law and his canopy, they drove off away from the nightmare of Flamingo.  
  
At least physically. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Harridge is Cambridge irl - Oxton is Oxford with Eton, and Harridge is Harrow with Cambridge. I run out of name ideas and therefore used Wellington and Le Rosey, two boarding school filled with princelings and royals irl with its real name 
> 
> (2) My school life and career life is catching up with me, so update will not be as frequent in the coming few weeks :s So this chapter is extra long - enjoyyyyyyy ( I hope)


	8. Egg fried rice and cold dead heart

‘ Apoo, where is the cooking wine?’ Kid raised his voice from the isles of exotic ingredient, his eyes looking at the long-armed man with long braid sitting at the cashier.  
  
They were in one of those Kanoian supermarkets that provides all sorts of Oriental cuisine —matcha bread, ramen noodles, sliced chicken, questionable ingredients— and Kid was expertly navigating between the isles, his hands grabbing ingredients so exotic that Law did not know their existence. Kid seems to be an expert in cooking: he knew how to pick the good scallion, he checks every egg in the box under the light before putting it into their shopping cart ( Law tend to just throw it to the basket), and he even knows which type of soy sauce or special oil to buy. Law was partially impressed by his expertise in Kanoian egg fried rice, but he is not going to admit it.  
  
The cashier raised his head and uttered a random number lifelessly, the pair of sharp eyes stared at Law for a while before moving back to the manuscript he was busy typing on the large laptop.  
  
‘ Is that the guy you are _in love_ with ?’ The cashier asked without looking at them.  
  
Law’s eyes widened in shock. Why on earth would a cashier from little kanoian supermarket know about them?  
  
‘ Yes.’ Kid admitted without even stuttering, and Law can feel his face went hot.  
  
 _What kind of idiot would admit they are in love with someone on a first date?_  
  
‘ He is my bandmate.’ Taking Law silence as a curiosity rather than embarrassment, Kid explained. ‘ He is working on this modern Romeo & Juliet play where the Romeo is actually a lesbian.’  
  
‘ Oh, is he a playwright?’ Law asked politely. He knew a few playwrights by virtue of association of Rosinate, and they are all incredibly snobbish and stuck up.  
  
In fact, most of the Rosinate crowd tends to be lean towards the ‘snobbish and stuck up’ territory.  
  
‘ No, he just likes the theatre. His main job is deejay.’ Kid said as he moved on to another aisles to pick up the cooking wine then he was looking for.  
  
' Interesting _.'_ _Kid Eustass is certainly full of surprise_.  
  
Law observed that Kid has the ability to fit into any crowd and his friendship group ranges from child to mafia : on the way of their wild bike ride from the Flamingo, he has bumped into a group of bikers nodding to him in the intersection, a troupe of Kanoian mafia that waved to him when they are walking by the Little Kano entrance, and a group of small children playing with a paper box screamed when they saw Kid, with the monkey-like child continue to hang on Kid’s arm until he promises to show him his robot collection next time.  
  
‘ What is interesting?’ Kid asked with a wide smile on his face. He always has the same idiotic smile when Law is with him.  
  
‘ The fact that you have friends.’ Law remarked, busy pretending to look at the Shanghai cooking wine that was next to him. ‘ And the fact that you actually know how to cook.’ 

‘ Franky and Robin have to work most of the time, I was sick of eating Mac & Cheese everyday so I started learning how to cook since year ten.’ Kid said as he walked pass the dessert fridge aisle, his eyes looked at a package of red tinned cup before turning to something else. Law noticed Kid's distracted gaze and looked at the red tin cup, he wonder what could have distracted Kid’s gaze away from him.  
  
‘ Egg fried rice is the first dish I learn.’  
  
‘ What’s the second dish?’ Law asked as he took up the package of red tinned cups.  
  
‘ Cullin Sink.’ Kid paused, ‘ And then I started making my own whiskey.’  
  
 _That’s a huge jump in the culinary process._  
  
‘ Do you not cook?’ Kid wondered.

‘ I eat to survive, so I am perfectly fine to replace my meal with a beige liquid filled with all the necessary nutrients.’ Law commented, his eyes started looking at the pudding package.  
  
 _Almond tofu pudding_. The package read, and Law never expected to see these three words appear in the same sentences. _What on earth is that_.  
  
‘ Do you want it?’ He waved the packaged dessert. 

‘ Oh,’ Kid blushed slightly as he saw the pudding, ‘ it is an acquired taste, let’s justgrab something else, like mochi.’  
  
 _What on earth is mochi_.Law wondered, once again amused by Kid’s obscure knowledge on Oriental culture and cuisine. 

‘ It’s okay , I want to try.’ Law said as he put it into the basket, and he saw Kid’s ear tips went red, his lips sneakily perked up as if Kid is touched by his simple action.  
  
Law questioned briefly on how easily satisfied Kid Eustass is, then he started questioning himself why would he even attempt to try something as peculiar as almond tofu Pudding. Law Trafalgar rarely tries anything: he reluctantly added coffee favoured soy milk to his routine after the insistence of Chopper, and he hated it wholeheartedly because it is way too sweet. 

_It must be because I am too hungry_ , Law thought.  
  
It must be.  
  
After they have bought all the ingredients that an ‘imperial egg fried rice’ requires, they went back to Law’s apartment to cook. As they parked their monstrous motorbike at the back alley with Law passing him back the helmet, Kid asked Law to keep it instead.  
  
‘ Don’t you need it?’ Law asked. _To drive someone else_. He mentally added.  
  
‘ No, I only drive you around.’ Kid replied, and Law can feel his heart jumped slightly. It is often flattering to hear someone is wholly devoted to you, and particularly so when it comes from someone as attractive as Kid Eustass. Seems to have caught Law’s slightly defenceless expression, Kid leaned in to kiss on his cold cheek, and Law was so annoyed by his smugness that he instantly pushed the bear-like man back irritatedly, only to make Kid chuckled amusingly.  
  
And so they set on to cook, with Law placing the priced helmet on the coat rack and started working on his medical paper, and Kid unloading the food in the kitchen whilst complaining about how sad his fridge looks (it only contains green apple and ready-boiled eggs these days). 

Law felt rather weird when he saw someone other than Rosinate cooking at his apartment. As a self-claim cooking expert, Kid easily blended into the kitchen: he knew how to use the stove, how to chop garlic into small pieces sufficiently, and most importantly, he looked extra dishy with his tattoos peeping out from his white tee shirt. Law tried to focus on the neurology journal but he found himself occasionally peeping over the open kitchen just to look at what Kid is doing. Kid would sometimes made eye contact with him, the pair of red lips would always smirk as if he knew what kind of spell he casted on Law.  
  
‘ Oh shit,’ Kid suddenly raised up his head. ‘ Do you have a rice cooker?’  
  
‘ No.’ Law raised his eyebrows as he popped a prawn cracker in his mouth (Apoo threw it as an extra gift). It is lucky that his apartment has a toaster, and he will never get into something as obscure as a rice cooker.  
  
‘ Ah, shit. I even get the _good_ rice, I don’t want to buy those takeaway overpriced rice.’ Kid looked at the ceiling frustratedly like he is some sort of a housewife. Law has no idea what _good rice_ means, but he supposes that's what a good Kanoain friend rice so requires.   
  
‘ Didn’t Dee live upstairs? Maybe she has one.’  
  
‘ I don’t think she cooks.’ Law crinkled. He suspects Deer Shang did not even have a kitchen: she looks like the type of person that has a fully developed laboratory for drugs but has no such thing as peasant as a kitchen.  
  
But they nonetheless gave it a try. With Deer Shang nor her servant picking up the phone after three rang, both of them has decided to go to the top floor to try their luck for their rice cooker adventure: Law went there because he feels like he needs to contribute something for their date night, and Kid decided to go because he does not trust Law’s spaghetti arms enough to carry something heavier than a surgeon knife.  
  
And as they knocked on the rosewood door and wait for the slender beau to appear, what confronted them is a towering figure in a gimp mask, his toned body tightly covered in a bodysuit, his shoeless-ness indicate he blended well into the culture of never wearing shoes indoors.  
  
‘ Can I help?’ The deep voice asked, his red eyes, sharp and cold as a blade, looked at Kid suspiciously then moved to Law. Law has met King before — in one night where Deer knocked on his clinic door with two fingers missing and a cut on her cheek — but he never expect to meet him again. At least not in Deer Shang’s apartment on a Friday night without shoes on.  
  
‘ We want to know if Deer has a rice cooker.’ Law said.  
  
‘…’ King did not say a word, and behind him squeeze out Deer’s pale face, her dark curls fall into her waist with her body wearing a navy blue silk slip, her face flushed slightly pink.  


_They were fucking._ Law thought.   
  
‘ I heard my name.’ She declared as King went back to the apartment, her eyes looked at Law then to Kid suspiciously. ‘ What are you guys doing -- are you guys shagging?’  
  
It is always weird to hear someone with a public school accent to utter words as vulgar as shag.  
  
‘ We are dating.’ Law explained.  
  
‘ Kid — you dog.’ Deer let out of a smirk and high five Kid, the two making a clear strong clap in the hallway like some sort of an immature schoolboy.  
  
‘ Are you...are you fucking that?’ Kid asked, his eyes wondered in awe.  
  
‘ Don’t kink shame, Eustass. I have never shamed you for being a ginger.’ Deer squinted without answering his question. She has a habit of keeping people guessing — she said it makes her appeared to be more interesting than she actually is.  
  
And just as they were trying to continue questioning King’s existence in Deer’s apartment, behind her emerges King again, his hand holding an apple green rice cooker and passed it to Law.  
  
‘ You bought it last week when you want to steam mermaid scale.’ King explained without Deer even asking why would such a thing appear in her apartment.  
  
‘ Ah,’ Deer’s eyes lightened up slightly. ‘ Well, here you go, Trafalgar. Take that as a token of our friendship.’  
  
‘ I am glad our friendship at least worth a fish-stained rice cooker.’ Law replied, and seems to be half-amused by his remark, King let out of a brief chuckle. Deer shooed them away and turned her back to the apartment, with King obediently branched out his hand to close the door, his head politely nodded towards Law but his eyes looked at Kid with suspicion, his gesture reminds Kid of a guard dog.  
  
‘ … How do they fuck?’ Kid wondered curiously as he took over the rice cooker, his face still confused as to the scene he has just witnessed.  
  
‘ Just stay over tonight, I am sure you can hear it through the walls.’ Law replied, his brain trying to wipe out the horror of an image inside his head.  
  
With the help of a rice cooker, they have finally collected the final horseman and can make the extremely complicated dish known as egg fried rice. The apartment, normally filled with the smell of a faint wooden smell, is now infused with the warm, delightful smell of home cook food that it never quite have experienced. 

‘ Come here, try it.’ Kid gestured Law to come near, his mouth opened to took eat a spoonful of rice from the still heating pan. As soon as Law gets closer, Kid scooped another spoon and put it near Law’s mouth. Obliged, Law took a bite, and he was surprised by the Unami favour: the egg yolk blended well with the rice, and with the scallion and egg white fried crispy, it gave a slight crunch to the rice. Law’s eyes lightened up as he gulped it down, and noticing his expression, Kid smiled. 

‘ I told you, this is the imperial fried rice.’ Kid said as he turned off the stove, and Law rolled his eyes as he finally admitted his defeat.  
  
It was indeed the best egg fried rice he has ever eaten, and the ginger nearly warmed his cold dead heart.  
  
‘ Do you know that egg fried rice is used to be called Mushu rice? The word ‘egg’ also meant ‘ penis’ in Kanoian, so they changed its name for the sake of not offending the eunuchs.’ Kid commented as they were gulping down the dinner.  
  
‘ I do not expect to hear the word penis or eunuch during a dinner.’ Law replied. ‘ But I am glad you know a lot about penis.’  
  
Despite Kid’s lack of conventional education, he seems to intellectually curious enough to hoard a large amount of obscure knowledge, and his liberal and non-caring nature towards everyone somehow made him more admirable than one would originally think. Law cannot help but starting to admire, or even adore, how someone as charming as Kid can also be friendly and loving at the same time. For Law, these things tend not to be mutually exclusive: Deer Shang is the complete opposite of loving and friendly, and some other charming characters that he has encountered, such as the great artist Usopp or the beautiful Cavendish, are friendly to an extent, but they are aware of their charm enough to know that their friendliness does not need to be extended to everyone.  
  
But Kid is different.  
  
Kid is just good.  
  
 _And he likes me_. _Someone like him would like someone like me._

It only took both Law and Kid ten minutes to polish off the fried rice, and with their tummy full and heart warmed, they have decided to drink beer (espresso for Law) and finish their dessert in the balcony.Small and only secured with black victorian iron rails Law rarely goes to the balcony alone —he has only been to this area with Rosinate once, and it was when they were fighting over Rosinate’s promiscuous habit. It was not a pretty memory, and Law tend to not think of any bad memory of Rosinate because it somehow taints his impression over him: he fear one day he would only remember the bitterness of their relationship, and there is no more chance for them to create any more good. 

But tonight, with Kid by his side and a weird Kanoian dessert in his hand, Law has never been more relaxed. With faint music coming from the street and the late autumn wind brushing against their cheeks, it is one of those rare moments that Law has not a single worry over anything. 

‘Hmmm, it is interesting.’ Law commented as he scooped out a small spoon of white gelatine from the red tinned cup, his eyebrows slightly frowned. The texture is slippery and silky, and it is overwhelmingly sweet with an overtone of artificial almond. Law will not say he hates it, but he definitely will not buy it again. 

‘Apoo’s mum gave this to me once when I was in high school. In the orphanage we only have orange as dessert, and when I live with Franky there was only coca-cola, so I really liked this.’ Kid laughed, his tone seems to be slightly embarrassed.  
  
‘ It is a nostalgic preference, I think.’ He added as he took another huge bite of pudding. 

‘ You grew up in an orphanage?’ Law asked. Normally he only asks about people’s background because his job requires (the stupid requirement of bedside manners, and the banality of small talk), but tonight is different: for the first time in his life, Law is asking questions about others because of genuine curiosity. 

‘ Yah, until Franky turned twenty where he found the warehouse, then I moved to live with him. He then used the warehouse to take everyone in — killer, heat.’ Kid explained. Perhaps taking Franky as his role model and inspiration, his eyes tends to light up when he talks about Franky, and his lips would curve up naturally without him even realising.  
  
Law likes it when Kid does that, there is something so defenceless about the way he smiles that makes him incredibly lovable.  
  
‘ He loved us all, he is like a tinned ball of love. ’ Kid said as he ate another spoon of his almond tofu, then he tilted his head a little and let the sweet liquid slide down to his throat.  
  
‘ Have you guys ever fought before?’ Law wondered.  
  
‘ Oh, we fought a lot, he used to force me to wear the same Hawaiian shirt as him because he thinks it makes us look cool, and I absolutely hated him for that. ’ Kid chuckled. 

‘ Do you still wear it?’ Law smirked: the thought of Kid wearing the same outfit as Franky and roaming around the street made him laugh. 

‘ No, I wore it until I was rejected by a girl for looking too much like a perv.’ King buried face in his palm and sighed. ‘ Why am I telling you about my dark ages? It is such a bad move.’ 

‘ That’s cruel. I will date you even if you have weird fashion taste.’Law took a sip of his coffee to wash down the sweetness in the pudding and the night. He is not used to date night like this — it has been way too long since he has dated anyone. 

‘ Aw, are you asking for a second date, Trafalgar? ’ Kid retorted like he is a young boy that just announced he has full ownership of a slide in the public park. 

‘ Fuck off.’ Not willing to admit his defeat, Law took out a cigarette from the box lying on the small table between them. But just as Law were to put it in his mouth, Kid stopped his action by taking his chin and pushed his lips. The kiss is sweet and Kid tastes like the pudding, a sweetness Law almost find it too artificial for his taste. 

_Almost._  
  
‘ Mummy, there are two men kissing upstairs.’ A low voice from below declared, distracting Law and Kid from their world for a while. Both Law and Kid looked down from the victorian bars to spy on the downstairs neighbour, only to find an obese man with bushy blonde hair and a bovine face staring back at them, and Law’s eyes slightly twitched over the lack of hygiene from the man’s tank top.  
  
‘ They can’t kiss here, it is a public area.’ Madame Balkin voice screeched. ‘ Oi, stop kissing you gaylords.’ The small woman shouted as she swung her umbrella into the air.  
  
‘ Excuse me, Madame, I am a female -- I just happened to look like a male.’Deer’s voice sang above their balcony, and Kid and Law both looked at each other with their eyebrows raised, both were stunned by the ridiculousness of the situation.  
  
‘ I am talking about the man below you.’ Balkin screamed back. Screaming is a commonality in this building; it is very much like every building, but only with each of them screaming in a much posher accent.  
  
‘ If I want to be on top of a man, madame, it is my choice.’ Deer declared proudly.   
  
‘ They are talking about us, Dee.’ Kid poked his head out and shouted back.

' Oh that makes sense. You see, King is not really kissing my upper lips at the moment.'   
  
‘ Oh my god.’ Law chuckled, imaging how the other neighbours would have thought about the conversation. Then, with the fat man and short woman below still staring at them, Law held out Kid’s face and planted a kiss on him. He smiled back and kissed back, the corner of their lips curved up uncontrollably as the mother and son below cursed and cussed.

Enchanted by their juvenile mischief, both Law and Kid burst out a chain of laughter, and Law was laughing so hard that he did not realised Kid’s arm was over his shoulder, squeezing him tightly into his embrace. And Law Trafalgar also did not realise that, for the first time of his life, for whole night he did not think of Rosinate for a single moment. 

All that he thinks of is — well, he thinks of nothing at all. 


	9. I love you

“ I love you.” Kid brushed through Law’s mess of dark hair, his nose dived inside to smell the coconut scent courtesy of Law’s Frederic Fekkai shampoo. He always liked how Law smells — body smelt like powdery soap, hair smells like some foreign beach — and he has the habit of sniffing Law like a dog whenever they sleep together. 

“ No, you don’t.” Law chuckled. His body, boney and often cold, no longer fight away from his embrace like a feral cat, something that he used to do at the beginning of their relationship, and even curl into Kid’s chest when he thinks Kid is asleep. 

But Kid is never asleep around Law: he is so excited about their relationship that he acts like a non-social-anxiety-ridden child before their first school trip when he is with him.   
  
“ I do.” Kid hugged him even tighter.   
  
“ You barely know me,” Law replied matter of factly.   
  
“ I know you as much as you allow me to.” Kid complained.   
  
“ Exactly,” Law turned to face Kid, the pair of light eyes stared at Kid’s then moved to his lips, and those soft lips gave him a light kiss.“ You barely know me .”   
  
You see, Kid is very much like a dog: you can always distract him by throwing something around him and skirt around the truth, and Kid is very likely to chase that thing and forget about what he was sensing before.   
  
It has been a few months since Kid has been dating Law, and all is well: they regularly go to movies ( with Kid insisting on watching a psychological horror then hide behind Law throughout), visit commemorative coin exhibition ( Law loves it and Kid loves that Law loves it), camping ( stargazing, chatting, and of course fucking underneath the star-flecked gaze), and Denflix and chilling ( except chilling turns into chilling in the literal sense).  
  
Kid is undoubtedly in love, even much more so than before, and much, much more than any relationship he ever had.  
  
Yet, even someone as foolishly in love as Kid can notice Law’s disappearance. He is still physically there with him, of course, but his mind descends would often into elsewhere, another dimension that Kid does not know and cannot reach. And in a moment like that Kid would lean in and kiss him or hug him, which sometimes, if he hugs particularly hard, can bring Law back to reality. Law has issues, and Kid knows: he has been warned by Killer and Hawkins ( with him waving a tarot card right in his face) about how troubling it is to have a relationship with people like Law. 

But Kid loves Law, and love conquers all — is it not?   
  
“ Kid, Kid, Kid.” Luffy’s sang as they were trying to assemble a robot from scrap metal, his large chestnut eyes stared at Kid as his chubby hands wipe off the permanent mucus hanging around his nose. 

“ What ?” Kid d looked up from the thin metal arm in his hand, his actual arm trying to wiggle off Toko, an orphan girl that has been using his arm as some sort of a monkey bar for the past hour.

Kid is in Sister Caramel Orphanage, his childhood place for his weekly robot/robot doll session. He would go back every weekend to provide scrap metals for the orphans to build robots ( or robot dolls, both girls and boys can play dolls) , and Luffy, who is actually not an orphan (he was from a surprising prestige marine family and his father is an academic famous for his influential, radical thoughts), would always appear, and he is one of his most loyal attendees.   
  
“ Is Law really your boyfriend?” The round head turned at the garden outside their room, where Law was teaching a little girl how to identify shame plant from the rest of the grass, the pale figure squatted down and his skin, paler than snow, looks nearly transparent underneath the bright sunlight. 

Despite Law’s constant claim of loathing kids, he would occasionally accompany Kid to the orphanage and teach the kids how to dissect frogs or identify useful medical plants from the back garden. He even started planting herbs with a troupe of little girls that volunteer to help him water them regularly, and the girls have helped him to made paper fence and flag to protect his little corner, naming it the ‘ Heart’s garden’.   
  
The influence of being ridiculously attractive reaches the very young.   
  
“ Yes.” Kid readjusted the headband that he wore for his robotic session, his eyes glued into Law. Even he cannot quite believe the fact that Law Trafalgar, the most attractive, amazing, cleverest person in the whole Lothiam, would be his boyfriend. Law is the type of genuine heartthrobs that are dangerous: not exactly movie star-like, but close, which make him more down to earth, handsome but still a mortal; a just by a mere look, you know you will be his, forever, as no-else can ever have. 

At least for Kid anyway.   
  
" Like Ace and Marco?" Luffy blinked curiously, and Kid glared back.

Kid has met both of them before: Marco is a black-market doctor who treated Kid’s wound when he got into a fight with Shank, and he remembers Marco is a has a type of louche, lazy facial feature that greatly contrast with his skilful hands and caring nature. As for Ace, Kid has only met him once when he came to pick up Luffy, and he remembers that boy is ruggedly sun-tanned and barely legal. 

_I don't know that pineapple is fucking Ace. Isn't he a bit too old? Is Marco a pedo? How old is Ace actually?_ Kid coughed, his mind trying to figure out how to address this question without really giving out a definite answer. 

" Did you see Marco and Ace kiss?" Kid asked, half curious, half hoping they didn’t. 

" No, but I see Ace makes Marco cry." Luffy replied, his black eyes still looking at Kid with glint. He always sees Kid as his source of wisdom because of his ability to build robots, which, is not a great source because Kid simply lacks wisdom. 

_Oh, oh wow, I don’t expect that. I am very unprepared for this topic_. 

" Well, sort of, but I don't make Law cry and he does not make me cry either." Kid said rather hopefully, feeling very much like those fairy godmothers in Hello Kitty Cartoons that he and Franky watch when he was young. 

“ … ” Luffy paused as if he cannot believe what he has just heard. “ But Law is pretty.”  
  
“ I know.” Kid said.   
  
“ And you are not pretty.” Luffy said as his stubby legs sneaked away from the table.   
  
“ I know. Oh, oh wait for you little shee—“ Realising what did Luffy just said, Kid quickly stood up to chase after him, and their robot session quickly turned into a wild goose chase in the orphanage, with Luffy screaming “ The monster is hunting us” and numerous little kids join in just to scream and run, all avoiding Kid as they burst into giggles. 

And when Kid finally caught Luffy from the second-floor corridor, he tucked Luffy’s round body in his arm with his other hand rubbing the wild monkey’s hair, making the little boy laugh and beg for mercy. Detecting some sort of stare from below, Kid glanced down at the garden to find Law staring at him, the pale face tilted up as the thin lips burst into a large smile.   
  
Law possess the type of smile that has the ability to pause the world momentarily — Kid has witnessed it in Spider Cafe, where the barista over pour the coffee powder in his Americano just because Law laughed at Kid's stupid joke — and the fact that it belongs to Kid just made him feel like a fuzzy little fool.   
  
“ What are you doing, Kid Eustass?” He asked from the ground floor, his left eyebrow arched up judgementally.   
  
“ He said I am ugly.” Kid replied, not realising how silly he sounds.   
  
“ You know you are not ugly, Kid.” Law used a wet towel to clean the mud on his hand. “ Come down — we need to help Robin distribute the juice boxes.”   
  
“ My boyfriend said I am not ugly.” Kid declared as he looked down at the small boy tucked in his arm, his voice so proudful that he simply forget he is a full grown adult and Luffy is merely seven.   
  
“ But still not pretty.” Luffy retorted.   
  
_Oh dang, he has a point. Is Luffy actually an intellectual?_  
  
“ Law —“ Kid shouted to seek for another affirmation, and Law just shook his head with his smile grew even larger.  
  
“ You are pretty, Kid Eustass. The most beautiful redhead in the whole Lothiam, now come down. ” Law said, and Franky, who was also there to delivery the juice box, lowered down his sun glasses to stare at Law, he mouthed the word ‘nice’ as he gave Kid a thumbs up. 

Noticing Franky is there, Law jumped a little as his face blushed, and Kid can feel his heart literally melt as soon as the word ‘beautiful’ reaches his ear. 

“ See, my boyfriend thinks I am pretty.’ Kid retorted as he carried Luffy down the stairs, his smile wide and proud, with Luffy looking at him in a confused gaze.   
  
“ Do all adult turn blind when the grow up? " Luffy said as he started picking his nose with his index finger. 

" You are just a little shit, aren't you?" Kid said as he started rubbing his hair again, and Luffy laughed and asked him to stop, which ends with Kid carrying Luffy down the stair by holding him up in the air, both of them making a woosh noise as they flew through the stairs. 

Then they fought over who can drink the remaining banana milk because Luffy is a kid and Kid is, well, Kid.   
  
And that night Kid took Law back to his home for the first time, where they have dinner with Robin and Franky (Chicken parmesan and Brussel sprouts, if you must know).Franky has asked Law a lot of question about his job -- for some reasons he kept mixing up Law's job as a model and he swears that he has seen Law's campaign for the street band CRIMINAL ( “ I saw you only with jeans in black and white picture !” ) -- with Robin distracting Franky's ridiculous enquiry by sharing how they met ( Franky fell in love with Robin when she arrived to pick up Crocodile's car, then he began tracing her which descended into sheer madness, ending with Franky kidnapping Robin away from Crocodile's townhouse). 

“ Oh, I remember. It was a big thing in the art scene.” Law said politely as he forked up the brussel sprouts on his plate, even the way he eats possess some kind of a polished polite manner that Kid can never mimic. “ They said you were kidnapped by a mechanical gorilla. I suppose it is just one of those rumours.” 

“ No no, its’s true, he was wearing a gorilla mask that night.” Robin paused a little, her lips broke into a smile. “ He said he wanted to hide his identity, but somehow he was still in his signature Hawaiian shirt and speedo which instantly sold him out. I think it cost Crocodile years of therapy.” 

They ended the night by Kid showing Law his high school albums tucked under his bed. It was an album made by Robin when Kid graduated, and Kid only realised he has taken quite a lot of photos when he read upon it again. There were pictures of Kid and Killer performing in a band ( only two persons back then) , the first day of Kid meeting Apoo ( Kid was dragged to be the student guide as a punishment of defacing the toilet), and him being in the robotic team, his red hair and earrings stood out from the rest of the nerdy, glass-framed faces ( he was brilliant at robotics and terrible at everything). There was also a snapshot of Kid being in the rugby team: he was good back then, so good that he gained a scholarship in a nearby university, but he chose to opt for technical college because he never quite have interest in academics.   
  
“ You must be popular when you were in high school,” Law said. 

“ No, my high school people are just friendly.” Kid said. 

“ This is what popular people always said” Law he arched his eyebrows, his hand held up the album and pointed to a photo of Kid sitting in a classroom, his hand holding a pack of potato crisp with another smaller kid holding a small manga book, his rugby team uniform stood out from the rest of the group. “ But Anime Club, really? And you were their accountant?”   
  
“ Yeah, Apoo was there so I joined to make him feel less awkward. I stayed because they are kind of cool. ” Kid shrugged. 

He actually liked being in the club — the president always provides good Wanoian snacks, the other students always teach him his coursework, and he discovered various robot anime that inspires him for his later robot designs, where he still shares to their chat group and meet regularly for beer. 

Kid is just a nerd, a dazzling, hot, and incredibly fit nerd.   
  
“ What were you like as a student ?” Kid wondered.   
  
“ Oh, I am rather invisible.” Law paused. “ Always in the laboratory dissecting things or in the library reading, never popular.”   
  
“ Don’t be absurd, I would have a huge crush on you if we were in the same high school.” Kid smirked, partially delighted by the thought of shagging Law in their library.

“ Bull shit, you look like the type who dates cheerleaders.” Law laughed a little. 

“ I think I did, but the only thing I remember is getting slapped quite a lot pre-match. ” Kid frowned. He never quite remember who he dated in high school, or who he dated before Law. “ I always liked the quiet, intellectual type.”   
  
“ I can’t say the same for you, ” Law smirked a little as he looked up from the album. “ I tend to like a man with a huge robot collection -- do you have one?”   
  
Like he has been stroke by a lightening, Kid’s face lightened up as soon as he heard the word ‘ Robot ’. He has been dying to show Law his collection, and all that Kid has been waiting for is the right moment to show him his pride.   
  
As if there is ever the right moment to show one's excessive robot collection.   
  
Kid’s robot collection, ever secretive, is stacked in an attic where they have to climb up from the hidden spot in the closet, hidden above a secret door painted in the same colour as the ceiling. It was Kid’s secret place where he spent a lot of his weekends there just to polish and remodel the robots. Only three people in this world know about this place: Franky, because he sometimes uses this to store his porn magazine, Luffy, because that monkey one day discovered it by himself, and now Law, the only person that has the actual permission to enter his secret forte.  
  
From there he showed Law his collection, from the first robot — a robot known as Mr F, made with used tires donated by Franky— to his favourite robot Mr F 2000-1. which can be remodelled with the rest of the robots to make an ultimate armour (and also magically act as a router).   
  
“ Do you like robots?” Kid asked excitedly as he put his Mr F 2000-2 back to its golden spot (he has installed special spotlight to bring out of the vermillion hue).   
  
“ No, not really, my interest is in coins and frog,” Law replied as he stared at the old poster that was piled against the wall. It was one of the vintage Iron Man posters that Kid got from a one-dollar store. “ But you clearly like it, so I am trying to like it.”   
  
Warmed, even shaken, by his words, Kid simply went up and give Law a deep kiss, his arm tightly wrapped around Law's as if he would vanish again, and Law in turn attempt to flee away even harder, making a loud moving voice on the wooden attic (Franky, whose bedroom toilet share the same roof as Kid's closet, nodded approvingly as he sits on the loo).   
  
“ I love you, Trafalgar.” Kid whispered, and Law, who seems to be shocked by his sudden confession, simply blushed, but his body stopped pushing Kid away.   
  
“ Idiot.” He commented, not directly denying his love this time.   
  
“…. do you want the fuck here?” Kid asked, his eyes brightened up by his sudden brilliance. The idea of having sex with his favourite human surrounded by his favourite toys just seems to be extremely attractive at the moment.   
  
“ No, no not with all those Frankies staring at me.” Law rejected.   
  
_Oh no, no sex tonight._  
  
“ But let’s do it in your bed.” He suggested as he tries to climb down from the small opening on the floor.   
  
_Oh yes, yes sex tonight!_  
  
And that night they have sex: slowly and quietly, with Kid planting kisses all over Law’s body, their breathing rapid and the pale face flushed. Unlike their usual preferred position, this time Law was facing him, with his legs holding up to Kid’s shoulder, their hand holding each other as if sheer intercourse is not intimate enough. And Kid cannot help but occasionally lean in for a kiss as he thrust, his body sinking into Law to embraces more of him: he is a simple man, and he only wants one thing — Law, and everything about Law.   
  
They paused to drink the Pocari sweat that Kid always stores at the mini-fridge next to his bed ( he got thirsty at night) , then they flipped through the pile of Luffy’s robot designs ( Kid keeps it as bedtime reading sometimes) before getting into the second round, this time with Kid refusing to go deeper without Law's orally ask for it.   
  
“ I need you to say you want me, Law.” Kid said. It is his substitution for I love you.   
  
“ … I want you to fuck me, Kid Eustass.” With Kid’s hardened phallus near his bottom, Law finally gave in. 

“ No, not want to fuck you, I need you to want me.” Kid requested, it is most rare for him to ask for something more than a physical transaction. 

“ I want you, Kid.” Law submitted, and Kid smiled. 

Law moaned, Kid thrust, and after a while, they both came again. 

The sex was even better this time, for Law finally admitted that he wanted him. Still away from being in love of course, but it is enough for Kid, at least for the moment. 

Law fell immediately asleep after the third round, but Kid, ever a kid, cannot fall asleep because he was too excited about the fact that Law, his dream man, is sleeping and dreaming in his bed. So he spent the whole night staring at the quiet cat (his arm partially numb because Law is using it as a pillow), his lips whispering ‘ I love you’ into the soft shaped ears, hoping his words can reach Law in his dream. He thought of taking picture of Law, but even him find it too creepy, and his cellphone has ran out of batteries.   
  
Who said Kid Eustass cannot be a romantic.   
  
“ I love you even though you never said it back.” He whispered one last time as he fell into sleep, with the room descends into the noiseless night.   
  
Even in their sleep, the lovers continue to cuddle with each other, with Law lying on Kid’s arms and Kid hugging Law, their skin covered in the midnight blue as their mind slid into a dreamland.  
It was such a pretty picture, the perfect moment to end a love story, the happily ever after that we all deserve.  
  
And then, Law opened his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you miss me? i am backkkkkkkkk -- for a while, before I descend into the madness of job hunting and grad school. Probs have a lot of typos and what not and will correct them later lmao
> 
> Edit: Finished editing and I am pleased.


	10. I deserve this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year guys - I crammed in this chapter before my holiday ends huehuehue 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it - hated my last chapter so I am going to edit it later. Gonna disappear and act like I have a life.

Whenever Law cannot sleep, he will go to 7 Reece Mews to talk to Rosinate.   
  
Rosinate is, of course, very dead and very much buried deep in the Donquixote graveyard, and 7 Reece Mews is not some secret places with a questionable Sharman and an artificial crystal ball. It is Rosinate’s old studio, a place Law has inherited along with the deeds of his apartment, decorated with exposed brick, poured concrete, reclaimed wood and unrelieved glass, where singers held their weed-induced soiree and artist conduct their exclusive classes. 

The studio was left untouched ever since Rosinate’s death, and everything was kept as it is: unfinished photo set up, half painted paintings, and a half-drunk whiskey with a balm stained mark. Besides the value of its prime location, 7 Reece Mews also hold some sort of a sentimental value: it is where Law first model for Rosinate, and where they had sex for the first time (not reflected on the evaluation sheets, of course).

Law still remembers how began modelling for Rosinate's photos: the wheat blonde begged Law to be his model for the Amber Lead fundraiser because of his link to Flevance, and Law declined because he is a doctor. But for the Donquixotes ‘no’ is never the answer, and therefore Rosinate came to his hospital every day, each time with a new wound in his long limbs or eccentrically attractive face, and each time he would ask for Law to be the healer and also his model. 

_“ The hospital is for those in need, Mr.Donquixote. A wound like this does not need hospital resources.” Law said as he put on an iodine soaked cotton ball on the cut near his cheek,“ Please don’t tell me you wounded yourself every day because of me.”_

_“ I am just incredibly clumsy, Doctor, more so because the man of my dream refused to be my model.” The pair of golden eyes twinkled as he s ruffled his wheat blonde hair._

The first time Law came to 7 Reece Mews he has mistakenly knocked on the front door, only to find Rosinate appearing from the bunker, asking him what on earth is he doing by the main door. 

_“ I am trying to get in,” Law replied matter of factly._  
  
 _“ No , you don’t get in from the front door, only conventional people do that.” Rosinate declared as he gestured Law to get down to the bunker, the dark tunnel let into a wide studio space with head to floor industrial window and a stereo blasting out classical music._

_“ I don’t know how to pose.” Law patted his eyes as he took off his coat._

_“ You don’t need to pose.” Rosinate took a sip of his drink from a whiskey glass, his smirk grow wider. “ You are naturally captivating.”_

With all these memories in mind, Law would occasionally go back and sleep on the mattress lying in the middle ( A vintage queen-sized mattress once belonged to Savoy hotel, where Rosinate bid it in his hangover and just put it in his studio for napping purpose), hoping to perhaps sees Rosinate’s ghost again. The most saddening thing is, Law has never seen Rosiante’s ghost. He has always heard stories about one’s ex-lover visiting them at night and giving him hints that they are there; but for Law there are no such dream or hints, with every night of his descend into dark oblivion, wake up to face a slightly more colourful oblivion 

So he comes by, foolishly hoping to hear a ghostly creaking sound just to tell himself Rosinate is still here, yet always met with the unnerving silence of the night. He visited this place less frequent after he started dating Kid, and he does not know why he chose to leave Kid and come to the studio tonight. He is tired, but something is forbidding him to fall asleep: every time Kid whispers ‘ I love you’ , Rosinate’s face would appear and all that Law can do is plummeted into a wave of sadness, with his brain clutched against any happy memories between him and Rosinate, daring him not to forget about what he has done.

“ Things are going well with Kid, Rosey. A bit too well. ” Law said as he slept on the cold mattress in the middle of the room, his eyes staring at sparkly dome as he tries to fish out a cigarette from his pocket. “ He is caring, sweet, and incredibly loyal. He loves having toast for breakfast but gave up on that because I loathe bread, and he even sometimes deliver lunch to my clinic. Hell, he even made me genuinely happy by just being there. You will like him, I think. He is wild. You always liked wild things.” 

He paused to light up his cigarette.   
  
“You know, the relationship is too good. It is so good that it makes me feel like our relationship is, perhaps, terrible.” 

He blew out a wisp of smoke, and the grey chiffon reached up to the sparkly doom, only disappeared into mid-air. 

“ It feels shit to realise our relationship is shit, Rosey. It’s like that time you thought you bought a Fragonard, but it turns out to be just a Watteau. And I cant just donate it as you did, no one would put our relationship on display.” 

_Oh, I still cannot get rid of the habit of speaking like them._ Law thought, then he chuckled at the irony of how Rosinate planted the part that Law despises most about Rosinate— an inherent self-entitlement and snobbishness — in his brain before he vanished. 

Dating Rosiante is dazzling. Rosinate was never faithful, but that was the deal to be with Rosinate: he is never faithful to anyone but himself. The Donquixote are passionate lovers — Doflamingo has once stolen a dressrosian princess heart with his boyish charm, making the princess turn into a mafia member — and Rosinate is simply one of them, with a firm belief of loyalty equals to banality. But he always told Law he is his only muse, and his obsession has proven the point: Rosinate would spend all day with him, wondering where is he, what he is doing, what he is eating; he would take pictures of Law, sometimes randomly and sometimes after them having sex, with him whispering words and poems that can he recite from his heart. And for Law, that made him feel like the one, the only one that has ever inspired Rosinate to his height, and Rosinate’s obsession somehow feeds Law’s withering ego. 

There are countless ugly moments, but that is what makes their relationship real: Law does not like it when Rosinate takes his lovers to the studio for sex and drugs, and Rosinate, in turn, abhors it when Law mingle with his ‘unimaginative and mediocre’ doctor friends or keep contact with an of his exes. Despite his grand vision in art, Rosiante fails to see the conflict within himself: at one side he hates to only have Law, but on the other, he hates the Law can have anyone that's not him. Smashing vintage whiskey bottle, loud Padam Padam that tries to cover their argument, every argument ends with Law not saying a word and Rosinate walking away, then tomorrow they will act like nothing had happen, only with the fight reemerge when Rosinate slept with someone again. 

Their relationship was very much like a grant painting: it is beautiful, glamorous, captivating, but if you squint enough you will notice there are flaws everywhere — the paints are piling out, the blue seems to be so off that has turned grey — but it is still beautiful, and you would gloss over everything because of how beautiful it looks. 

And for Law, for the years before he met Kid, it is how love supposed to work. You squint enough, you keep your distance, then alas the love is still there, still glittering, still existing. But with Kid, love is different: it is tender, sensitive, soft, sort of like a never-ending warm tea that simply keeps you up with the darkest night. 

“ I am sure you would agree I don’t deserve to be this happy, after all that I have done.” Law mumbled, talking to the non-existing ghost and perhaps also his own conscious. 

The grant picture of their relationship crumpled when Law saw Rosinate with a rent boy in their apartment, where he saw Rosinate’s tall, statute sculpted body lying on the bed, his hand wrapped around a boy with blonde hair and honey skin, sleeping peacefully on their bed as if they were a couple. It is not precisely the fact that Rosinate has sex a rent boy that angered Law, but rather, it is the peacefulness and intimacy between them that made Law felt violated.   
  
_“ I am going to fuck your brother.” Law shouted as he merged out of the door, his hand grabbing the fur-trimmed jacket that belongs Rosinate._

_“ Don’t you dare.” Rosinate shouted back, his body still in his initials embroiled silk boxer, tailored from Savile Row. “ If you really did, I will bring you to your knees.”_

_“ Mousey.” He screamed, the name affectionate, his tone fills with rage._

He remembers going to the Baroque Works that night, where Doflamingo is always there flirting with whoever that comes close — rumour is that he likes to fuck in Baroque Work just to make the boss, Crocodile jealous — Doflamingo flirted with him before, in a new year party when Rosinate was standing right next to Law, and it instantly drove Rosinate into a jealous rage. And that night, that daunted, cursed night, Law just went straight to the alternative tall blonde, the more wild, more rugged Donquixote, his lips pushed right to the champagne tainted lips, telling the whole world he is sleeping with Doflamingo. It was pure vengeance, and there is nothing romantic or sensual about their sex. 

_‘“ Fuck harder,” Law barked when the phone rang, and Doflamingo only obliged thrust quicker. His Oxton professor said siblings tend to be so biologically similarly that even their heartbeats in the same manner, and Doflamingo felt exactly like Rosinate — he even grunts like him. “Fuck me harder,” He shouted again as the phone rang, and Law made sure their moan was loud enough to cover the ringtone._  
He slept over in Doflamingo’s ghastly glass apartment that night (nevau riche to its extreme), and he woke up when the sky was still in pale blue, he Rosinate stopped calling after 4 a.m., Thinking he must have slept in the studio again, Law went to 7 Reece Mews to find him, he even bought him his favourite coffee nearby, ready to squint through and stand afar, looking at their picture-perfect relationship again. What he saw, however, is Rosinate overdosing in the small, dangly toilet of the studio, his tall body sitting on the black loo, his neck softly dozed down like a dead pigeon. 

Those golden eyes, warm enough to melt even the coldest ice, never looked at Law again. Like that, the light in his life is gone, and everything turned blue. 

“ I don’t want to be this happy. I don’t deserve to be this happy” ” Law paused, and he realised his voice is shaking. He wanted to cry, but all those months crying and weeping simply drowned out the reservoir of tears in his eyes. 

Just as Law descend into the other dimension, a loud clang blasted out from the long corridor, and he can tell someone is trying to open the main entrance. Alerted, Law sat up from the bed, his lanky body trying to search for something to defend himself. 

Could it be Rosinate’s ghost? His eyes widened as he moved the cigarette still in his mouth. But he realised it cannot be true; Rosinate will never allow himself to be as conventional as entering from the main entrance, and if he is a ghost he will definitely enter by climbing out through the loo or one of his photograph, much like those indie Orient movie that he simply adores. 

He walked across the bar area and squatted behind the halfway wall, his hand took out his phone and ready to call the policeman. Footsteps, quickly and almost soundlessly, walked across the wooden floor, their voices whispering and cursing why is it so hard to open the door. 

“ I dont think it was supposed to be opened - shit, do you know how to close it back when we leave?” A girl whispered, her tone slightly worried.

“ We will just use a crowbar to block it, Vivi.” A familiar female voice responded, and Law can feel his goosebump risen just by the way her voice specifically vibrates into his earlobe.

 _What an annoying accent._  
  
“ Do you really think this is the place? This doesn’t look no art grande to me. It just looks like some regular posh garage.” Vivi said as she stepped into the middle of the studio, and Law saw a girl, tall and pale with baby blue hair, pointing at the mattress. “ Is this part of the artwork? Should we steal it?” 

“ No, we can’t move it. Steal the painting and camera, oh and the whiskey.” An orange-haired girl walked up, her body in a bikini and jeans, an attire that is not exactly the most practical outfit for the weather or for a thief. 

_It’s that annoying girl from Flamingo._

“ What the fuck are you doing here.” Law quickly stood up, his hand grabbing onto this phone as his eyes glared at the two girls. Recognising his voice, Nami jumped and turned to face him, her brown eyes blinked as she tries to think of a reasonable excuse. 

“ How on earth do you know this place, you don’t look like you are cultured enough to know this is a studio.” Law commented in a rather snarky manner. 

“ Wow, you really are a posh twat aren’t you.” Nami retorted as she readjusted the plastic gloves in her hand. 

“ I know art.” She added defensively. 

“ Name one artist.” Law demanded. He certainly did not expect to quiz a thief about art tonight. 

“…Ussoup.” The peach lips finally uttered a name. 

“ It’s Ussop, you idiot.” Law rolled his eyes. He expects her to say someone common like Picasso or Monet, but she even managed to fail that incredibly low bar. “ Do you even know who used to own this place?” 

“ Hey, you don’t have to be a dick. Your friend said he is a keeper of some art treasure place, so we just stole his key last time in Acacia, we wouldn’t touch it if I know it is yours. ” Nami flipped him off as she threw the key to his direction, and the key chain landed right on the wooden floor. 

“ Happy?” Nami asked sarcastically as Law squatted down to pick the key, his eyes still stare at them like a cat that has been just disrupted for his nap. Law almost forgot that he has hired Penguin as his guardian for the place, and he cannot wait to tear that shit into pieces after tonight. 

“ Who is this guy?” Vivi, who was completely oblivious to the whole situation, asked, her blue eyes studied his face for a while. “ Oh wow, he is hot. Why is he so ridiculously hot? ” 

“ He is Kid’s boyfriend,” Nami said with her hands in the air, indicating she is not going to touch or steal anything. 

“ What the fuck, and Kid doesn’t even know his boyfriend owns this place? That’s a sign of miscommunication relationship man.” Vivi raised her perfectly arched eyebrows, her index fingers and thumb, painted in matching baby blue acrylics, snapped to show that she is not pleased with this information. And Nami, realising Vivi has spoken too much, shook her head as her eyes threw darting gaze to her, begging to suddenly posses the ability to communicate telepathically. 

“ Wait, what — why would Kid — “ Just as Law were to ask why would Kid, his Kid, to be involved in this failed theft, he heard a familiar footstep coming beside, and his heart stopped. 

“ What is taking so long?” Kid’s low voice appeared, and both Vivi and Nami’s eyes widened, everyone involved knew they were to be dragged into a drama that none of them likes to take part in. 

“ What are you doing here?” Law asked, and Kid’s hazel eyes widened, his face suggests he is equally confused. 

“ It is a bit complicated.” Kid paused for a while to think of how to put his story eloquently. “ I used to go be involved with this thieving group when I was young, and they came to me asking for a night tonight when I am taking a cigarette break, and I thought okay, my boyfriend disappeared and is not picking up the phone, so maybe I do it last time to clear my mind.”

 _Wow, what an oddly honest deliver_. Law thought, but he finds himself partially irritated by the fact that Kid did not tell him about his past life as a thief.

“ You never told me you use to steal ?” Law squinted. 

“ I mean, I stopped a while ago so I don’t see why it is relevant.” Kid frowned. “ Why are you here? Why did you leave my room suddenly? I thought you sleepwalked to the river and got drowned shit.” 

Nami and Vivi, who are still in the background, exchanged glances as they both raised their eyebrows, their teeth clenched to make a ‘ yikes’ sound. 

“ What studio is it — “ Kid looked around the empty places, then his eyes quickly spotted a photo in the corner: it is a black and white photo of Law from one of Rosinate’s collection, only with a close up of his arm tattoo and part of his hip. But of course, Kid recognise that is Law, he has seen his bodies so many times it is burnt into his mind. 

“ This is your ex’s studio.” He turned his face to look at Law, his eyes dimmed down, and a weird feeling emerged from Law’s stomach.

“ You sneaked out of my room to go to your ex’s studio in midnight ?” Kid asked rather desperately. 

“ Oh my god, I really don’t think we should be in this,”Vivi commented as she turned her face to Nami. 

“ Yes but also I kind of … want to know?” Nami replied, her eyes fixated on the two of them as if she is watching some Denflix drama.

Law bite his lips as he looked at the window frame buy the side, he cannot quite find an answer to explain the situation. It all makes him sounds like an incredibly bad lover, which he is, but he is not ready to be confronted with tonight. 

“ I can’t sleep.” Law finally uttered. 

“ People who cant sleep tend to play on their phones, wank, or drink milk, not take a cab for 30 minutes then fuck off to their dead ex’s studio.” Kid doubted his reasons.

 _That must be what Kid does when he has insomnia, exactly in that sequence._ The word dead somehow triggers something in his head which made him tick. Law knew he is at fault, but he is also mad that he was caught to be at fault. 

“ I am here because I miss him, Kid Eustass. I miss my dead ex-boyfriend so I cannot sleep, is there anything wrong with that? ” Law retorted.

“ Why didn’t you at least leave a text?” Kid asked as he grabbed onto his hair, a small thing that he does whenever he is frustrated. 

“Because I don’t see how it is relevant, just like your thieving past” Law replied swiftly, and the two girls in behind made an ‘Oof’ sound. 

“ But I was right next to you.” Kid said, his tone slightly defeated. 

And another round of Oof noises raised. 

“ I miss him, Kid. I love him.” Law confessed, his eyes looking at the tip of Kid’s work boots rather than his eyes. He can never quite handle Kid’s sad face, and he does not want to lie in front of him and make up another reason. 

“ Do you not love me? ” Kid asked, rather like a helpless child, and Law can tell the room just plummeted into silence, with everyone waiting for Law’s answer. 

And with all this pressure, Law cannot quite find himself answer the question either. 

“ I love Rosinate.” Law said, then he heard himself uttering more words. 

“ And I don’t think I can love anyone else.” 

_Oh, that is what I thought all along._

Kid’s eyes widened slightly as he licked his lower lips, then he ruffled his mess of auburn hair, his cheekbone gone red, his eyes started glinting due to the tears emerging from his eyes. He looked at the upper corner of the storage, trying to not cry in front of anyone, and it is most weird to see Kid, the charming, charismatic and wild heart breaker have his heart torn apart. 

“ I can love you if you never said it back, and I can love you even if you love someone else along with me, but I cannot love you if you say you don’t love me, Law. That is just brutal.” Kid clenched his teeth a little, then the pair of brown eyes, always sharp and wile, gazed at Law. “ Don’t do that to me.” 

_Loving you is happy, but I don’t deserve to love you._

“ I don’t think I can love you.” He reaffirmed, and he does not even know why did he said such word, and an invisible hand just went into his chest and pinched his heart.

And just like that, Kid looked at him with his eyes widened in despair, and his hand, held onto a tight fist, punched right into Law’s face. Law did not fight back mainly because he is not strong enough, and also because he thinks he deserves the pain. And so he just looked back at Kid, not knowing what to say or what to do. Wanting a response, Kid punched him again, his fist stronger and his punch harsher; Law can feel blood emerging from his inner mouth, and he simply stares at Kid without response. 

_I deserve this._  
  
“ Just go Kid, those malnutrition bones can’t bear anymore of your punches,” Nami said as she pulled on Kid’s shearling jacket corner, her arm holding two Ussop paintings that Ussop gave to Rosinate personally, and her hand is grabbing a vintage whiskey. “ Just FYI, you are a dick and I don’t want to see your face anywhere ever again, and I am taking these as a compensation for Kid’s heartbreak.” She spitted on the floor then turned her face to the back. “Let’s go, Vi!” 

“ Great studio, amazing interior, but you are a terrible person and I hope that swell stays.” Vivi smiled politely as she raised the whole Rosinate’s books collection in the air, “ Good night.” 

And just like that, they are all gone, in that order: Vivi, Nami, they never mattered, really, Kid, and Rosinate. 

Law dragged himself towards the mattress, his eyes staring back at the faintly pale blue sky through the tall glass ceiling. Cruelly, the sky looks the same as the night Rosinate was dead, grey, dismal, as if it was laughing at him at his failure in holding a relationship. 

_I deserve this._

Then, Law closed his eyes.


	11. Thanks for the tea and all that

' Am I sick, doctor? ' Deer sighed as she looked at the white ceiling, her left hand extended to cover the slight scar etched on the pale white surface.

' No.' Lawgruntled and took a sip of his coffee from the pristine white mug. ' You blacked out after orgasming, it is not any kind of illness, it is just a very good shag. You don’t need a gerontologist to tell you that.'  


Law has just gone through a partial break up followed by a series of sleepless nights, and the last thing he needs is Deer Shang in his office, baffling about how she is probably sick because she blacked out every time after she had sex with her latest conquest and ‘probably true love, whatever that means’. 

' But how do you— wow, you look deformed. ' She gasped as she opened the white curtain surrounding the surgical bed. Law, in his normal white long sleeves tee-shirt and pair of tailored cotton pants looked at her, his eyes reflecting his disinterestedness from his heart.   


Kid punched hard that night, so hard that it created two stubborn swells on his cheeks and Law has been looking like a chipmunk for more than two weeks. 

' We broke up,' Law murmured. He does not want to share his date life with anyone, and particularly with Deer Shang, whose moral code is so bizarre that she frequently mix up her exes names and just number them in numbers. 

' Were you being a terrible person again? ' She rolled her shoulder, making a loud squeaking noise as she moves. 

'I have never stopped being one,' Law looked up to check the clock over his head, _three o’clock_ , then he sighed. ' I went to Rosinate’s studio in the middle of the night, then I told him I don’t love him.'   


' That is beyond terrible and downright hurtful. Why would you do that? ' she asked.  


He took another sip of his coffee, his brain really does not want to dwell onto the matter: it is office hours, and he loves life should be filtered out, even though the only one occupying the room is not actually a client but more of a squatter.   


' I don’t know.' Law leaned back at his chair as he let out of a sigh. He sometimes does or say things that he cannot quite understand: that is a bad habit of his that he has recently learnt. ' I still can’t get over Rosinate, you know.'   


' Why? he is a dick.' She cooed as she extended her hand to inspect the small, pale line around her recently re-attached pinky, mumbling she should hide it with a ring. 

' Deer!' Law gushed, and Deer shrugged.   


' What? Him being dead doesn’t make him less of a dick. Do you remember that time in May Ball he left halfway because you talked to Cavendish in the dinner? You only asked him to pass the potatoes -- it must qualify as a dick move.' She exclaimed as she browses through the Bonhams jewellery catalogue with her phone, mumbling there is no good ring nowadays. 

' He has his own issue, but he is a good person,' Law said defensively. Rosinate taught him a lot: how to drink red (Always burgundy and maybe Bordeaux if you must), how to dress correctly ( save the Barbour for the countryside), how to travel ( Winter in Gstaad and Sumer in Mustique). He exudes loveliness and tenderness when he is not high or in someone's bed, and it is the first time Law tasted love, however ugly it was.   


' He was tricky. Actually, let’s ask Chopper, he is a good judge of character.' Deer bounced up from the tiny bed and walked toward the conjoined door between their office, her pale knuckles making a loud, clear knock on the apple green door. ' Chop — '  


' Yes?' The door slide opened and behind stood Chopper, short and round in his doctor coat, his eyes looked up at Deer with a childish smile. 

' Is Rosinate Donquixote, Law’s ex-boyfriend, a dick?' She asked as if they are in some sort of a quiz.   


' Oh, he is nice to me. He brings me Charbonnel et Walker truffles whenever he visited the office.' he answered delightfully, and Law shot Deer one of his glances to declare his victory. 

' Okay Chopper clearly is not a good example, everyone is nice to him, he can even get away with the monstrosity that he called ‘bike’ because he is a talking marshmallow. ' Deer rolled her eyes, her hands did an air quotes as she said the word _bike_.   


' Hey, it is a gangsta bike. Franky and Mr.Pink said so.' Chopper complained.   


_It is not a bike. He clearly does not know what is a bike._

' It is not a bike, Chopper. It is a ghastly tricycle and if an actual toddler ride it I would have called child service.' Deer said as she closed the door in front of chopper’s face, which makes Chopper let out of a complaining ouch. 

_That is not how child service work. She clearly does not know what is child services.  
_

_Are doctors actually idiots outside the medical field?  
_

' Law, we all know he is a dick, and you are a dick . Kid is a dick, and I am an addict. ' She observed.   


' You cannot just gloss over it, you are a dick as well.' Law pointed out drily. 

' My point is, Rosinate is not as good as you think, and it is rather annoying to see you keep feeling sorry for him and yourself.' She sat on his desk and pushed his document aside, the pair of long legs crossed then double-crossed.   


' You know what I did that day, and I don’t think it is very redeemable,' Law commented, she is one of those rare ones that he confronted after he saw Rosinate’s death.   


' It is just cheating.' Deer replied. ' You cheated, but that doesn’t cause Rosinate’s death. You should only hate yourself for cheating but not for anything else.' 

_Easier said than done._

' Why did you suddenly say you don’t love Kid anyway? That guy is lovable — he is like a brainless puppy. ' She added as she looked at the document in Law’s table, grossly disregarding the client-patient confidentiality.   


' He didn’t tell me he used to steal. I just want to date a normal person.' Law found an excuse that even him found half convincing.   


' That’s bullshit, none of your friends is normal. Me, your only friend — '  


' I got friends from high school.' Law clarified.   


' Your only friend,' She affirmed. ' is basically a _cook,_ your ex-boyfriend is a Donquixote, and, for fuck sake, you even have DEATH tattooed on your fingers and you are a _surgeon_.' She rolled her eyes dramatically to show her displease. ' There is nothing normal about you or the people you surround yourself with. So what on earth are you trying to hide with this pathetic excuse?'   


Finally giving in, his hand searching for the cigarette then he always stores in his pocket. Noticing his hand movement, Deer quickly took out a hand-rolled cigarette and passed it to Law, and he frowned upon the outrageously glittering filter but put it in his mouth as he shrugged.   


' You remember that night after you OD’ed, you said people like us don’t tend to be loved? That we just dazzle and perish? ' Law softly sighed, trying to light up the cigarette.  


' I was twenty-one and drug-addled. I really don’t think it is wise to follow what I said during that time.’ She took another cigarette for herself, her hand taking out a lighter from another pocket after she glanced at the ‘ no smoking sign’.   
  
‘ But I remember— we should push people away before we taint them with our tar.’ She added mockingly as if she is teasing her past self.   


' Well, I feel exactly that way with Kid.' Law leaned in and took a drag of it. The cigarette somehow tasted different, with the taste being less strong and more grass-like, not to Law’s liking but better than nothing. ' I don’t want to love him, I am too depressed and dick-like to be loved.'   


' But he loves dicks.' Deer exclaimed genuinely.   


' You know what I mean.' Law took out a bento cover and stood to stick it over the smoke alarm. ' I don’t think I can give him what he wants.'   


' Yah, he wants you, and you wouldn’t even let him have that.' She said harshly, her mouth blows out a cloud of smoke towards the no-smoking sign as if she is trying to rebel against the unseeing authority.   


If there is one redeeming quality about his nearly-failed-med-school, chimney-smoking, drug-addled friend, is that Deer Shang is often the one who put things in a brutal manner that cut to the truth, and Law often relies on that hurtful truthfulness to function. 

' I don’t deserve him, Shang. I just hurt people and I don’t think I deserve any love at all.' Law uttered. It is odd to talk about his deepest fear, especially when what they normally do in Oxton are simply frantically tip past paper 48 hours before exams. 

‘ The concept is bullshit. There is nothing as absurd as _deserve_ when it comes to love.' She paused as she kicked off her shoes, her feet curled on the desk to make her sitting position more comfortable, the clinic room turning into their old hippie smoking corner.  'If someone as vile as Blackbeard can have someone love him — god forbid he wears signets in both of his pinky — then I guess there is no such concept as _deserve_ in love. It just happens arbitrarily, and one must accept it rather than feeling sorry for themselves.'   


' Blackbeard is a serial killer turn mafia, I really don’t think wearing signets in both pinkies are the most abhorrent characteristic that deprives him of being loved.' Law teased, but he does understand the logic behind her words, just needs more time to digest it or to embody it.   


Deer paused to think of a more convincing example for the particular stubborn Law. 

' You know I am with King, right ?' She asked. 

' Yes, everyone notice that, he is alarmingly conspicuous,' Law replied drily, thinking of the horror of last time King knocking on his clinic door at midnight, holding nothing but a heavily blooded Deer Shang like they are in a Hitchcock horror. 

' I often feel likeI don’t deserve him, because he is just _perfect ,_ and I am, well, a beautiful, fragile orient.'   


Law shook his head in disagreement.   


' But you know, King has the most beautiful chuckle. It is most weird, such a frightful look and menacing reputation, but such youthful, refreshingly soft laugh. And whenever I hear that I just feel better. So I stayed in his life and try to be better, because I want to hear him chuckle which makes my world better.’ 

She tilted her head as she blew out another smoke directly towards the ceiling. 

‘ I guess you can just find your chuckle.’ She concluded. 

' I have never expected you to be so sentimental, Shang. I nearly cried.' Law finally commented drily. He never expects her to possess any tenderness: he once saw her asking a child to wipe away tears because ‘ it is rude to display emotion in lunch’. 

' What are you going to do, senseless robot?' She smirked a little.  


' Oh, I don’t know. I have yet to find a tender moment about Kid,’ Law blinked slowly, everything is tender about Kid. There is no precise moment that makes Law fell for Kid — he just falls for him, once and for all.

The thought of Kid’s tenderness wound his heart, the thought of letting him go hurts his soul, and the thought of confronting him also terrifies him. So Law simply chooses not to think about Kid at all.   


' You will figure it out. I am not going to push you, no one will. We are too occupied with our own life to notice others. ’ She tilted her head a little, then she stubbed her cigarette on the edge of his coffee cup, which made Law frown. ' And if you don’t figure it out, you will lose Kid and lose the chuckle.'   


' What?' Law looked up, the idea of losing Kid suddenly terrifies him. 

' Don’t look at me like that, you stop communicating with a person, then you lost the bond. Sometimes you pick it up, but more than often you don’t — unless they are those rare ones.' Deer said matter of factly as she slips down from the table, her hand readjusting her velvet slippers. ' People don’t tend to stay stubbornly like a dog and let you hurt them, Law. Even dogs would not do that. At least the clever ones wouldn’t.'   


_Oh yeah, all I did is hurting Kid_.

_I hurt him and hurt him until he walked away._

' I am not the type that would call an ex to resolve matters over lattes, Shang. You know that. ' Law said as he twirled in the chair, even the thought of drinking mediocre coffee and having mediocre conversation make him shiver. 

' And I am not ready.' He added. He knows what to do, of course, but he simply does not want to reach out and talk. There is too much talking involved, and he believes he needs a therapist rather than a boyfriend at this point.   


‘Then do it when you are ready. But just a reminder, sometimes you will be too late to be ready, particularly in a relationship. ’ Deer readjusted her silk cap as she checked herself out in the mirror near the door, she mouthed a wow. ‘ So whether you two can be back together is based on pure arbitrariness. Beautiful, isn’t it? To have such an important thing to be purely out of your control.’

Law did not say a word. He never quite imagined that Kid would leave him, and the idea of needing to be ready at the right time just made him feel dizzy.   


‘I know you will figure yourself out, Trafalgar. You always do. So the more interesting question is, what would Kid Eustass do when he faces a heartbreak?’' Deer asked as she opened the door, her eyes glanced back at Law.

‘You meant _who_ would Kid Eustass do when he faces a heartbreak?’Law retorted, and both of them laughed.

* * *

When Kid Eustass has a heartbreak, he cries. 

He has never had a heartbreak before: he is always the dumpter and never the dumptee. Therefore, when he has a terrible, gut-wrenching, chest aching heartbreak, he simply cries. He cries in the morning, the afternoon, and at night, and he only partially stopped when he is working, but sometimes tears would still come up uncontrollably. He is the past shell of himself, and he does not know which part of himself did the breakup destroy: it seems like Law's cruel words simply shattered him into pieces, and leave him with the body of so-called Kid Eustass.   
  
He cannot even go to the robot room nowadays, because he has created such happy memory with Law in there that going back just made him cry again. He also made a special playlist named ‘ Law’ on his Dentify, where he has collected 143 sad songs to play when he cries just for dramatic effect. Killer and Heat has been with him all through these time, smoking weed and listen to him vent at night, but even that does not make Kid happier.   


Only Law can make him happier. 

He tried to get back in the game and started dating again, try to do someone in order to forget about someone, hoping the sex would erase the memories — Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Coffee Meet Bagel, Grindr — but he can never quite resume because every ‘Hi' simply reminds him of Law and everyone seems so unamusing compare to Law. 

He tried having sex with Bonney once, but it only ended up with Kid sobbing inside Bonney’s embrace, with her petting his back as she swipes through tinder, which actually helped them to rebuild their friendship in a very weird way.  


' Ah, this is the song that the NEROs played when I had that third coffee with Law.' Kid said when he tries to grab a cheer up hot chocolate with Killer.   


' Your third date?' Killer asked as he grabbed onto his hot chocolate order, his face paused to stare at the mountain of whip cream the barista added. 

' No no, the third time I bumped into him in a coffee house after our first fuck.' Kid said, his brain distracted by the music and disappear into the past. 

' I am impressed that you remember shit like this.' Killer commented, even though he believes Kid needs to stop dwelling on his own pain and get back in the game, he now began to suspect dating Law actually make Kid smarter.

' I remember everything about Law.' Kid mumbled.

_And he never remembers anything about me_. _Because he does not love me_. _  
_

Like that, Kid cried again, and Killer can only ask for more napkins from the barista, who also slipped him his number on the napkin (the name is Penguin, double-lined under).   


' Kid, you need to either find him or move on.' Killer remarked as he folded the napkin to his hand. ' The choice is yours, but I will always be here for you.'   


And like that, Kid cried again — for bromance, of course — and this time he used the napkin Killer was holding, his excessive tears blurred the number Penguin left for Killer.  


' Are you my true love after all?' Kid wondered as he gave Killer back his tissue crumble.   


' You are not my type, Kid, fuck off. And don’t give rubbish to me. ' Killer irritatingly threw the tissue right in Kid’s face, his mind wondering why on earth would he ever befriend Kid Eustass.   


But things turned better when Kid went to Deer’s apartment to help her upgrade her laboratory. He hoped to see her so just to make her spill some information on Law, but he was instead greeted with King, the tall, dark, enigmatic figure in a beige apron, and the red eyes glanced to the mini-laboratory room without saying a word. 

Kid has never spoken to King before — he is not sure if King can speak in complete sentences— and the whole atmosphere is awkward, with Kid dropping tears the whole time he upgraded the system because Deer’s apartment is also where Kid met Law. 

_He is so handsome, and he doesn’t love me._

He finished after a few hours — it is surprisingly hard to fix laboratory apparatus with tears in one’s eyes — Deer was still not back, and King was cooking in the kitchen, his brawny, armoured body turning the kitchen comedically small, and it is the most peculiar sight Kid has ever seen in his life. 

' What are you cooking?' Kid asked. He desperately needs some human communication to distract him away from memories of Law.   


' Fish maw, dragon eyes, lily bulb and red dates with milk.' King reported, his voice authoritarian and cold, and Kid cannot understand a single word he uttered except for‘ Milk’.   


Then Kid, rather shamelessly, just sat by the breakfast table, with King turned back and stare at him confusedly, his body language showing he did not want Kid to linger any further. 

' Where is Dee?' Kid wondered. 

' Out for work.' King answered simply. 

Silencio.   


' Do you need anything?' King asked coldly, muscly body not quite sure whether he should completely turn to face Kid or to monitor the stove.   


' A cup of tea would be nice.' Kid replied without a second thought, and the pair of red eyes squinted, the kitchen turned into an insufferable, awkward silence with only the boiling noise of weird soup bubbling in the background, both of them trying to out awkward each other. 

' Milk, sugar?' King finally asked. He lost the game.   


' Milk, one and a half sugar.' Kid replied, heartbreak makes him extra oblivious to his social surrounding, and King just widened his eyes, his brain clearly cannot digest who on earth would have the audacity to request ‘half a sugar’.   


Despite his clear annoyance, King nonetheless keeps up with his manners and made a cup of tea for Kid, even sliced a square sugar perfectly in half.  


' Are you waiting for Deer?' King put down the green and white teacup on a coaster, his skillfulness in housework greatly contradicts with his outward appearance. 

' Yes.' 

' Is she expecting you?' 

' No.'   


' …' King shot Kid a judgemental stare before he turned his back, his mind is entirely on the weird soup again. 

It is going to be a long, insufferable social exchange for King.   


' Is it hard to love Dee?' Kid asked. He is not sure why he asks such question, but something about King just exudes authority and wisdom, and Kid desperately need guidance. 

And also because King is wearing an apron which somehow makes him look homely and even motherly, despite his gimp mask and what not. 

' It is easy. She is lovable.' King replied succinctly, his hand took out a small tasting spoon to taste the soup ( sip it through the mask without even removing the cloth), with Kid suspecting if they are referring to the same person at all.   


' I have recently been told by a man that he does not love me, even though I love him with all my heart. I tried my best to love him, I give him everything and was honest with everything, but he just tossed me away like garbage.' Kid holds onto the tea without drinking it. He just needs the warmth, really.  


' I will call Deer and see where is she,' King said as he lowered the fire, his hand wiping the dirt off his apron and reached for the kitchen phone.  


' And the most ridiculous thing is I still love him after all that.' Kid added weakly as he sipped on the tea, ignoring King’s suggestion on calling Deer. ' Oh, the tea is good.'   


King is notably delighted by the praise, but his hand is still holding onto the phone as he dialled the number, clearly wanting to get away from the teary, mopping kid. 

' I don’t even need him to love me back, I just don’t need him to push me away. I just need that. ' He continued without taking notice of King’s obviousness of not wanting to talk to him. 

' She is not picking up the phone.' King put down the yellow phone, his tone slightly annoyed. Then he wrapped his hand around his chest as he leaned against the cooking table, his eyes looking at Kid like he is examining this prude intruder.   


' Why did he tell me he does not love me? I am sure deep down he — '

' Have you heard of the Torino people?' King said, finally give in to Kid’s whining. 

' No.' Kid said as he tries to breathe the excessive mucus up in his nostril, and realised he cannot do that because the mucus is hanging too low, he decided to try to wipe it off with his hand.  


' They are a hunter-gatherer tribe that lives in the edge of south blue. You cannot reach to them directly and force your way of living on them, no matter how advanced or better you think your civilisation is, so you can only wait for them to reach out to you.' Irritated by the unhygienic sight, King took out a white handkerchief and passed it to Kid. 

' Thank you,' Kid took it blew heavily into the white handkerchief. It smells oddly like buttery biscuits. ' So?'   


' That is my approach with Deer. Knowing how troubling she is, I showed her I love her, then I waited.' King said, his hand waved to deny Kid from giving him back the handkerchief.   


' So you treated her as an uncivilised tribe?' Kid exclaimed. 

' Yes but that is not the point.' King blinked slowly to suppress his impatience.  


_I thought Deer is Kanoian, not Tarinoian_. _  
_

_Oh wait, it is a metaphor.  
_

' Is it worth it?' Kid wondered. 

' Yes, quite so.' King replied without a second thought. 

' But how long would you wait?' Kid asked rather desperately. _How long should he wait_? 

' For as long as she wants.' Noticing the soup is overheating, he quickly moved the cover off the pot. ' But I think the healthy thing to do in general is to wait for as long as _you_ want.' 

_Oh wow he is a wise man.  
_

_A wise man with a very odd fashion taste.  
_

‘ How do I know if it is worth it?’ Kid gulped down the tea. 

‘ You don’t. You just do it and wish for the best.’ King shrugged matter of factly. 

Kid held his lips into a straight line, his mind thinking whether it is worth it, particularly after such a harsh rejection from Law. 

‘ Did you want to give up halfway when you wait for Dee?’ Kid asked curiously. 

‘ No, I cannot fathom being with anyone but her.’ King started to pour himself a cup of tea because of all these extremely inappropriate question. 

_Do I want to be with anyone but Law? Why did I like Law in first place?_

‘ Can I talk to you about whether I want to be anyone but Law later? You are helpful.’ Kid said as he looked right into King’s eyes, his tone rather hopeful.  


' No, please go.' King glared at him as he shooed him away with his hand, quite uncomfortable with the forced therapy session that was imposed by Kid.   


'Turns out you are good dude underneath all those…sexual leather.' He folded the handkerchief and put it on the table.   


' Just go. ' King warned as he stared at the handkerchief, clearly not even wanting to dignify it with his fingers.   


' I will ask Dee for your number so we can chat later. Thanks for the tea and all that. ' Kid said as he finished off his tea, his hand took the gearbox laying on the marbled floor. 

' I don’t have a phone.' King replied firmly, he was trying to use a bread holder to pick up the handkerchief. 

' It’s a phone right there.' Kid observed, his painted index finger pointing to the excessive small phone poking out from King’s pocket. 

And like that, King simply took it out and snapped the phone in half, his eyes maintaining direct eye contact with Kid, his action clearly indicates his unwillingness to maintain any communication. 

' I don’t have a phone .' King reassured.   


' No bother, I will chat with you next time, I know you will be around. ' Ignoring King’s warning, Kid waved his hand in the air as he walked to the main door — he can hear King tossing the remaining phone corpses on the floor — and his heart suddenly felt marginally better. 

Because Kid has decided that, for once in his life, he would wait. 

Or at least he would try. 


	12. Everyone Likes a Grand Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all those comments and views 🖤 Hopefully I will update again by the weekend then start focusing on my study again fml

Kid was staring at a blue painting framed with elaborated wood as Bonney trying to turn his ruff of red hair into a ‘ 1920 comb-over’. He has been told by Camie, the panicky green-haired assistant, that the painting is an original Ussop and none of them can touch it. Kid was not going to touch it — who would touch a painting — but now he really wants to touch it simply because he was told not to.   
  
‘ Don’t you dare to touch it, Kid. You are going to perform for some VVIPs and nothing can go wrong.’ Bonney warned as she grabbed Kid’s chin, her pink eyes looked right into Kid’s, daring him to not do any misdeed.  
  
‘ I am not going to do shit.’ Kid rolled his eyes as he slouched down, slightly irritated by the fact that Bonney seems to see through him.   
  
He was too uncomfortable with his surrounding to not act out: the sofa was too soft, the air was too calculatedly perfumed, and the room, tucked in the corner of a Georgian mansion, was so refined that even the washing basins were made of pink marble. He prefers Shakky’s sticky-floored, Pollockly vandalised room, and he much prefers playing for his small group of fans than the stuck up group of fashionistas, designers, artists, big-name and what not.   
  
But the starfish designer apparently liked their music so much that he insisted on hiring them, and Bonney decided the party would be the break that the Garage Kid needs. According to Hawkins, he practically ‘ made the starfish’s career’ by selling the designer’s clothes in his boutique when he was just some ‘ nobody from the University of Sealand’, but Kid is so disinterested with the story that he did not even bother to remember the star fish’s name.   
  
Everyone besides Kid is ecstatic about the event: Heat and Apoo were jumping up and down because they spotted a bunch of Moriar Secret model arriving in a cap, Bonney was happy because the paparazzi flashed their light when she went out for a cigarette break, and Killer was happy because of the champagne and small plate of cheese platter provided by the hirer, even though he did not quite show his emotion underneath his thick blonde hair.   
  
Even Franky, the man that is least likely to be on trend with fashion, was excited about Kid’s participation because he always gets his couple outfit with Robin from the said brand, which in fact cast doubts on how chic the brand, CRIMINAL, could be.  
  
‘ Dude, even top models like Shirahoshi and Komurasaki are attending this party, ’ Heat looked up from his phone. ‘ You can totally score them in the after-party, what’s the long face?’  
  
‘ Those models won't even fart in our general direction, let alone invite us to an after-party.’ Killer waved his breadstick in the air and make it perfectly land right in his mouth.   
  
‘ Have you looked at Kid? He is like a pussy magnet ever since the breakup, girls were throwing themselves towards him like flies…’ Heat retorted, but seems to realised his has spoken the wrong thing, he quickly looked at Kid and smiled stringently. ‘ I am sorry, Kid, it’s not intentional.’   
  
‘ It’s okay, it’s a long time ago.’ Kid said casually.   
  
Of course it is a lie: Kid is definitely not okay.   
  
It has been three years since the traumatising night, and Kid is still not completely over Law. It is not that Kid cries every day: he stopped the crying after a year, but something in his body that makes him fails to be as happy as he is supposed to be, and he tends to feel numb more than happy these days.   
  
And Kid often feels bad for being unhappy, because there are no reasons in his life to feel this sense of ennui: he is working his dream job, building and designing robots parts under in weapon manufacture under the referral of Queen, Franky's drinking buddy, and he is going to be an uncle soon ( Robin is pregnant and Franky, the baby could be here anytime this month). With his childhood friends, Vivi and Nami, getting married in Alabasta in August before ‘ the law changed again’, his life is complete: after three years of random calling, King would even greet him with a semi-compassionate ‘Mr. Eustass’, signifying a blossom of friendship (according to Kid, denied by King).   
  
Life is generally good, and if Kid chooses to stop waiting for the impossible, he could start any relationship with anyone he wants: the sad factor really pushed Kid’s attractiveness into a new high. Yet, Kid is still, in a way, waiting for Law: for the past three years, Kid has dated a few people, but he can never get into a serious relationship. Kid tells himself Law is taking his time to heal — Law posses an exquisite vulnerability that takes more time to recover -- but three years without any communication is objectively too long. The first year of silence is explainable because they need their own growth, and the second year implies one of the party has chosen to move on, but by the third year, it simply suggests Kid is an idiot.  
  
He should move on and be happy, but he knows he won't be happy if he moves on.   
  
Why am I unable to be happy?   
  
‘ Hey, fucker, look at me.’ Bonney slapped Kid’s face to draw his attention back to her. She always knew it when Kid descend into another dimension. ‘ You are handsome, you got a good voice, you are magnetic on stage. If he sees you tonight, all he can think of is how stupid it is to loose you, so you better fucking give a good show, okay?’   
  
‘ Yes, I will.’ Kid gruntled slightly as he tilted his head to avoid Bonney making him wear a bowtie.   
  
Franky’s best friend, Mr Pink, provided them with his perfectly tailored suits, and he gave Kid a dark tux with a red-tartan waistcoat which apparently made Kid looks like a ‘dashing Scotsman’, but Kid feel much rather like a Walker Shortbread box, and the last thing he needs is a ribbon on top like some sort of a souvenir from the airport gift shop.   
  
‘ I am not going to see him today anyway. He hates the party.’ He added, and Bonney just gave him a sympathetic smile before slapping him again.   
  
‘ Ouch, what is this for ?’ Kid complained, now he has fully snapped away from the zone of thinking law.   
  
‘ For being a little shit — ’  
  
‘ That’s how Kid calls me most of the time!’ A familiar childish voice appeared, and by the half-opened door stood Luffy, now slightly taller and slimmer than before, his body wearing a navy onesie, his feet, wearing two cartoon ship slippers ( Kid recognised it from the cartoon Going Murray) suggests he either lives here or, more probably, lives nearby.   
  
‘ Why are you here? ’ Kid’s exclaimed. He was already slightly nervous about today’s show, and the last thing he needs is Luffy's sudden appearance and causing a scene.   
  
‘ I miss Ace and he told me there will be a lot of food, so I sneaked in.’ Luffy said, clearly it is food rather than his beloved brother that is driving his motivation.   
  
‘ You need to go back — yo, Bonney, can you take care of him when we are performing?’ Kid quickly stood up and carried Luffy in his arm.   
  
‘ I hate children.’ Bonney exclaimed. ‘ Can you like to put him back to where he come from?’   
  
‘ What, like his mother’s womb?’ Heat asked, and Apoo laughed.   
  
‘ Ace and his girlfriend are here.’ Luffy exclaimed, then he suddenly paused. ' I think they are breaking up, I heard them arguing today.’ 

' Can they still be together after they break up? I want to keep playing with Yamato.' Luffy blinked, and Kid widened his eyes, clearly fail to follow on such statement.  
  
‘ Erm,’ Kid looked back to his bandmate to ask for help, but Apoo and Heat are too busy playing with switch, with Bonney distancing herself away from Kid with a cushion as a shield, it leaves Killer who is busy trying to sip the champagne straight from a straw.   
  
‘ Yes they can. Look at Kid, he broke up for three years but still cannot leave Law.’ Killer explained.   
  
_Ouch. Touche._  
  
‘ I don’t think that boy will understand that.’ Bonney looked at Luffy, who is by now busy picking his nose.  
  
‘ I don't think Kid understands it either.’ Killer remarked, clearly referring to Kid's inability of letting Law go. ' Not shitting on you mate, I am just saying.' 

' You can fuck off, Killer.' Law said as he raised his perfectly painted middle finger. Killer has been his relationship therapist for the past three years, and he is notably fed up with Kid lack of willingness to move on.   
  
Kid is like a stubborn Shiba Inu, and he will only move when he wants to move.   
  
Not wanting to dwell on the topic further, Kid just wrapped Luffy tight into his arm to prevent his escape, his mind determined to go around the party and help him find Ace. Partially impressed by how Luffy climbed through all those pipelines and ceiling to get in, the two kids were distracted by the canapés table and ate a few plates of weird escargot pastries and chocolate tart before they were shooed away by Hawkins ( ' Don't hide food in your sleeves!') and forced to get back at their journey to Ace.   
  
‘ Ace’s girlfriend is very pretty, she is a knight.’ Luffy commented as his legs keep swinging in the air like he is swimming, his tongue licking the garlic butter on his finger.   
  
‘ She can win you in a fight.’ He added in a challenging manner.   
  
' I hope I won't get into a fight with her then.’ Kid frowned a little, starting to wonder who or what on earth is Luffy’s brother dating.   
  
‘ She can win Ace too if they get into a fight.’ Luffy commented, more concerned this time.   
  
‘ They probably won't get into a physical fight, Luff.’ Kid affirmed.  
  
‘ They did — I saw them wrestling in Ace's bedroom before, it is always Ace that is groaning. ‘ Luffy said rather innocently.   
  
Kid paused. _It was definitely not wrestling._   
  
‘Let’s hope they won't break up.’ Kid replied swiftly to change the topic.   
  
‘ I think she is my favourite girlfriend.’ Luffy lighted up his eyes, which is rare because Luffy tends to have the habit of not treating others seriously except for his brother and Kid.   
  
' I like her more than I like Law.’ He added as he chewed on the profiterole he stole from the food table.   
  
_Oof._

' Why?' Kid asked. 

' Because Law made you cry but Yamato didn't make Ace cry. I don't like it when Ace makes Yamato cry, because I like Yamato too.' Luffy said matter of factly as he shoved another profiterole in his mouth. 

Kid was partially touched by Luffy's bromance and was going to cry again, but he stopped it by messing with Luffy's hair affectionately. 

‘ I am sure Ace likes her more than Law as well.’ Kid said wittily, but he suspects it is not quite true, because Law is cursedly attractive, perfectly imperfect, and no one can resist him.   
  
He is most definitely not over Law.   
  
‘ Oh, that’s her that’s her.’ Luffy exclaimed as they entered into an antechamber, with Luffy quickly wiggled out of Kid’s arm and jumped on the floor, his hand pointing up in front of him; Kid, partially relieved that he can finally pass Luffy to someone else, looked up with a brief smile, but the smile soon dropped when he sees what is in front of his eyes.  
  
_Oh._  


* * *

Law Trafalgar sighed as he stepped out of the cab, his eyes stared at the Georgian townhouse with the word ‘ CRIMINAL’ projected on the hysteria covered walls, then he proceeded to sigh again.   
  
_I am so not ready for this shit._  
  
Law was invited to Pappag’s party, and he never quite figure out why he is invited. Pappag, the fashion wonder boy and the creative director of the fashion label CRIMINAL, sends Law an invitation every year, and Law always finds an excuse to avoid it every year. But this year is different: it is CRIMINAL’s 10th anniversary, and Pappag personally wrote to Law that he ‘ must go’ (must underline twice), even go so far as attaching the invitation with expensive lilies that were wrapped in black tissue papers. So Law appeared with his tired body and totally unfashionable outfit (blatantly ignoring the ‘ 1920s Great Gatsby’ dress code embroiled on the card) , with his mind wondering how to get away with the party since yesterday.   
  
Law is never fond of parties, let alone fashion party: He only came to know Pappag because Rosiante helped CRIMINAL for their first spring campaign, and Law was the model.  
  
Yes, Franky did not remember anything wrong: Law was, indeed, the model of CRIMINAL for one season, even though he always actively denied it.   
  
It is a shameless photoshoot, and Law tries his hardest to forget about it. He vividly remembers Rosinate holding a camera and taking pictures of Law in various jeans, leather pants and leather jacket, and they would often have sex halfway and digest weird tablet to create the authentic sexual, primal look that CRIMINAL represents. He remembers Pappag texting them saying the advertisement was well received, but Law is just glad that none of his friends is fashionably enough to know what is CRIMINAL.   
  
He planned to show up briefly before returning home and he has prepared a bottle of Château Léoville Barton, one of those numerous wine he found in 7 Reece Mews, as a gift. There is no doubt that it will either end in one of the guests' pockets or turned into a Sangria, but Law frankly cannot care less. He is just glad that he kept the storage of wine Rosinate stored in the studio before selling everything, so now he has a supply of tasteful wine for a social situation like this. And judging by the frequency of him attending parties, one might say the supply could last for a lifetime.   
  
With the stern face of a Roman soldier facing Hannibal attacks, he squeezed through the crowd of paparazzi frantically clicking their cameras as he showed the invitation to the security, secretly wishing the tall Elbafian would kick him out for his obvious violation of dress code, but was nonetheless allowed to enter after a particularly obvious snarky glance, which makes Law feel relieved and annoyed at the same time.   
  
As the slender figure walked pass the marble hallway, his eyes started searching for any familiar faces. The room is filled with jazzy music, cocaine with perfume, obnoxious laughter hung high and secrecy chatter mixed low. Barmen pouring free flow of champagne whilst trying to navigate through the crowd, their tray on the tip of being unbalancing thrown off; men in colourful suits and women in flamboyant hair, each trying to impress each other without really knowing if they are worth their time; every room is filled with contemporary artwork, with the walls painted in delicate chinoiseries, there were a line of waiter holding plates of food and empty tray, appear and disappear without anyone noticing.  
  
And then, as Law tries to go to some quieter place such as the reading room, he spotted a huge black and white photo of him in the antechamber.   
_  
What the fuck is this._

Law widened in shock as soon as he spotted that photo in front of the cream beige wall. The black and white version of his past life was staring at him, his eyes dusted with a deep shadow, his body in nothing but his tattoos and vintage jeans. The huge photo was framed and placed right next to Pappag’s Napoleonic self-portrait, which is sandwiched between another equally large photo of a silver-haired girl with two horns, wearing the same pair of jeans Law wore a decade ago. 

_Why the fuck is it in the middle of the room._  
  
 _Fuck. Fuckly fuck._  
  
Desperately wanting to walk away from the picture, Law waltzed into a drawing room and grabbed a Champagne flute from a tray floating away, his stomach dying for some canapés or caviar (there is always caviar in a fashion party) as his eyes search for any familiar faces that can save him, his mind hoping no one is sober enough to notice that large photo of him or, worse, recognise him as the model in that photo.   
  
' Oh, shit, Law? Law! I haven’t seen you for ages. How are you?' Perhaps God has heard his prayer, a high pitched voice appeared right to next to Law, followed by a tight, almost breathe-taking hug which made Law cringe. Law instantly recognised the overly touchy man as Ace de Prtgas, with his forever sun-kissed skin and wide smile, the twinkle in his eyes is always there no matter how drunk or intoxicated he is. 

' Ace! I am well.' Law greeted him rather formally. Law hasn’t seen anyone from Rosinate’s circle after he decided to move on, and it is most odd to see Rosinate’s assistant again. ' Why are you here? ' 

' Oh, everyone likes a grand party, so I just invited myself in.' Ace smirked as he popped a weird-looking shrimp in his mouth, his napkin holding a large pile of canapés. 

' Surely ZONIL’s Hottest being in New World don’t have to invite himself in anywhere. ' Law chuckled, he noticed Ace’s face on the glossed magazine cover when he was buying onigiri.   
  
‘ I am only here because I took Pappag’s fall campaign — that title is not that influential, I am afraid. It’s just a list of people that Hancock finds mildly amusing that year.’ Ace laughed in his normal self deprecating manner.   
  
‘ Oh, you took Pappag’s campaign?’ Law raised his eyebrows in awe. _Just like Rosinate when he was younger_.   
  
‘ Yes, did you see the silver-haired beauty next to Pappag’s portrait? I took that. I am very honoured to have it placed next to Rosinate’s work.’ Ace smiled proudly, his teeth glisteningly white like a Hollywood star. 

‘ I always liked that photo of you, I think it is one of Rosinate’s most powerful photo.’ Ace added sincerely. 

' Please don’t mention the photo.' Law replied sternly as he shook his head, He is desperately trying to forget about that picture and that whole campaign ordeal. 

' Why? It practically created heroin chic and— ‘ Ace gulped his beer, then his eyebrows frowned concretely. ' Oh, because you are still not over Rosinate?' 

' No no,' Law frowned, _what is it with young people and their feelings_? ' I just hated that photo. I don’t like to be seen in any campaign.'   
  
_I am a doctor goddamn it, not fucking face of heroin._

' I was just going to ask you to be my model for Saint Laurent. Well, I am glad I didn’t speak too soon.' Ace laughed, his eyes always curved into an unexpectedly warm curve when he laughs. 

' I am sure you can find someone more photogenic than me in this crowd.' Law reassured even though he has no idea who is attending the party. 

' But they are so…regular. And you are, you know, Law Trafalgar. ' Ace added, his hand touching Law’s arms then smoothed down onto his forearm, and Law noticed a slight blush on his freckled cheekbones.

' I am flattered.' Law smiled politely. ’ So what have you been up to lately?'   
  
' Just shooting for some fashion brands, not really my thing. Been wanting to branch out for natural, wartime photographs.’ Ace said as he took a bite of a weird-looking pastry in his mouth, then he frowned a little and pop in another straw berry tart in his mouth.  
  
‘ Why the sudden change? ’ Law said, his brain devising when is the best exit point of their convo.   
  
‘ Oh, I like things that are hidden and speak the truth rather than those editorial, generic type of beauty. ’ Ace smiled sheepishly.   
  
‘ Can you not find hidden, truthful things in the editorial? ’ Law wondered politely.   
  
‘ Actually, I did,’ Ace paused as if he thought of someone, ‘But I want to find other types of rarity, the ruins of a war-torn country, the hidden forest in Kano, just…wonders that speak a story.’  
  
Law did not expect the conversation to be this deep and he felt much obliged to leave the chat.   
  
‘ I am sure you will find your way.’ Law said. He coped this the perfect way to exit any difficult conversation from Deer Shang, who always uses it to conclude everything.   
  
‘ I hope so.’ Ace smiled politely. ‘ Oh,’ his eyes lightened up as if he thought of something. ‘ And I am the guest judge on a TV show this week. Do you watch Dragrace, the one hosted by Ivankov?' 

' I don’t watch television.' Law said curtly, then he realised he probably sounded more snobbish than he has intended.   
  
' Why am I not surprised? You were always reading back in the studio. It is a shame that I am not in any medical books.’ Ace paused, his dark eyes twinkled as he looked right into Law’s.’ Erm, it is a bit noisy here, do you want to get out of here ?'   
  
‘ Oh,’ Law gulped down his champagne, his brain tries to digest if it is a friendly invitation or a flirt.

For the last three years, Law has been so consumed with other aspects of his life that he has never dated or even fucked anyone, and his flirt detector is rusted due to the lack of usage. He went to Elbaf for two years to sharpen his heart surgery skills (and learnt how to reconstruct a heart with pig valves), then he spent another year purely on his medical work, with his off-work time busy finding new address and disposing of the old Rosinate’s things, he simply did not have time to think about his love life at all. 

He thinks of someone quite a lot, but he just not think about the general aspect of love.   
  
' I would love to but I am looking for someone,’ Law paused, a certain redhead emerged in his mind then he quickly brushed it away.

' In this party.'   
  
_He won’t be in here, don’t dream_. 

' Well, just call me when you change your mind. It’s so good to see you again.’ Ace shoved him his business card then gave him another hug, and Law just smiled. 

_When, not if_. Law chewed on the words, and he found Ace’s self-assured nature amusingly resemble Rosinate’s. It is, of course, not surprising: Ace was Rosinate assistant for a few years, and with his watchful eyes and youthful mind, Ace can capture moments better than Arbus, create scene daintier than Beaton, and the years of training under Rosinate simply nurtured his talent to an explosion. 

_Why did I say no? Probably because he is too young_. Law tells himself as he wandered into the corridor, his eyes looking for some spare corner for him to just exist.   
_Must be the only reason._

He did spot a familiar figure that can savour him in this social situation— between the marble poles, in front of the Victorian glass door is Deer Shang, elegant in black and pearls, next to her is a tall man in plum hair and a black mask, his upper body disproportionately muscly and his legs excessively slender. With Deer laughing and the man gazing back, the image would have been pretty if it weren’t for the lurking King at the end of the corridor, his gigantic body merged perfectly behind a gargoyle, his tinted eyes squinted suspiciously towards the man’s general direction.   
  
_Nope nope nope. Not gonna get trap in the colosseum._  
  
Law quickly turned left to enter the larger ballroom — a tall, beautiful woman in dark hair stomped away with Luffy in his arm and a food stain on her glittery dress, her lips cursing where is the nanny room — and as he walked deeper, the contemporary soul music grew louder ( ‘Tommy thinks the crazies are back in my mind; Tommy says the children are clouding my head’), the room, washed in soft purple and dazzled with the flickering reflection of the chandelier, is oddly ethereal.   
  
‘ Law, is that you? IS THAT REALLY YOU?’   
  
As Law decides to walk straight to the bar for a proper drink, Pappag has appeared from nowhere and grabbed Law with his floppy hand ( or whatever that starfish calls it), his thick lips left a wet kiss on Law’s faces, dragging him right into the centre of a glittering bevvy of swan-like friends without missing a beat.   
  
‘ Oh, Pap -- ' 

' Everyone, this is Law, my muse, my love, my everything. Law, this is Komurasaki, you must know her, she is in ZONIL’s September cover. Dazzling little thing, isn’t she? ' Pappag said as he gestured to a tall girl in green hair, and Law noticed the girl is so polished that even her lash tips are drizzled with the daintiest diamonds.   
  
‘ Hi.' Komrasaki looked at Law disinterestedly, and soon turned her beautiful diamond netted hair to scan around the room. ' Has anyone seen my bodyguard? This tall with green hair ... I asked him to get me those little foie gras thing half an hour ago and he is still not back. Last time I was walking for Moriar's Secret he was so lost he walked into Prada's set.’   
  
' Smoothie Charlotte, the Legs. Ace took the most splendid photo of her for Louboutin. Where is your dishy brother, Smoothie? Yes, the one named Katakuri, he is very much my type…’ Pappag mumbled as he gestured Law to a tall woman with icy features, and the woman just nodded lazily as she took a sip of her red wine, waiting for the chance to tell Pappag he is not any of her brothers’ type, not even the one who is partially a Fishman.

' Have you seen Bentham? I need to avoid him at all cost because I did not invite Ivankov. His is simply too loud and he did not invite me to be a guest judge on Dragrace. Yes, he dares to invite that ghastly Kinemon but not moi -- ' 

And Law, trapped in the middle and have no interest in any of their glamourous whispers, were planning to excuse himself, but a familiar, voice raised from behind, and a wave of coldness piked through his back, and his world suddenly froze. 

' We are the Garage Kids and we hope you are enjoying the night.' The man on the stage said, and his voice is magnetic enough to snap people out of their bubble to notice the band in the background, followed by people gasping and a few wolf whistles.   
  
Tall with a perfectly coiffed red hair, Kid was wearing a tailored tuxedo with a tartan waistcoat, nothing has changed besides the slightly darken scar in his left eyes, which somehow made him attractive in a devil-may-care way. 

_Kid_ , his Kid, was standing on the stage, looking more handsome than Law has ever remembered, sounding sweeter than he has ever imagined, with his voice dripping honey that hypnotises everyone into slow dance.   
  
‘ _I’ve made up my mind, I'm out of mind over you_.’ Kid sang as his body moves with the rhyme, much less energetic than his old performance, and his voice has turned from his normal youthful jazzy high to a melancholic low.   
  
‘ My buyer is in the band so I feel obliged to hire them. Thank god they are alright after all!’ Pappag exclaimed happily, and Law just stared at them, his handheld his champagne flute even tighter.   
  
‘ _You’re the only kind of love I want, and you break me in two_.’ The song continues, and Law suddenly feels like the song seems to be utterly personal. 

' Oh, Law,' Pappag pulled Law’s hand and started dancing, ' I am so glad you come. You are my muse for the past decade.' 

_What? Me?_ Law stared at him with confusion, _I inspired you to design abhorrent jeans and overpriced white tees? I am the root of all those travesties?_

‘ You must take a photoshoot with Yamato, really, she is the most magnificent creature. Interesting and overwhelmingly beautiful, she is the face of androgynous for this decade! Do you know she once hit Prince Yonji in preschool? ' Pappag murmured as he leaned his face close to Law, the music is so loud that Law simply cannot hear what Pappag said, his eyes only glued to Kid.   
  
‘ _We've had some good times, we've had some bad. But I'd never take a single one back_.’ 

' Where is that Artemis? She was just there chatting with that beautiful O-Kiku. Oh, I have to make that Wanoian minx pose for my next season, for the Orient market, of course… ' 

' I am sorry, I have to go.' Law explained as he tried to pull away from his slippery hands. He is not sure where he can go: he cannot possibly disrupt Kid's performance halfway -- it is a social faux pas no matter how to romantic you think it is--but he desperately wants to get closer to Kid. 

' No, no, please, Law, stay.' Pappag prayed as he let out of a little cry. ' You are finally here, please, just finish a little old me’s dream. Oh, there is Yamato. What is that thing behind her— who let that _ghastly thing_ in? ' 

' Oh, that _ghastly thing_ is my boyfriend, Pappag. It is a good party when you see him trying to catch his boss’ runaway daughter. ’ Appeared out of nowhere, Deer laughed as she dances along with the rhythm like a grandma. ‘ Wickedly handsome, isn’t he?’. 

' Wow. Wow, right. Tell me my LSD fairy, were you held in captive for the past three years, or did all those drugs finally dulled your senses?'  
  
‘ _From force to fight, from wrong to right; from bloodshot day to sleepless night_.’ 

Law turned to look at Kid again, and his heart raised faster as Kid’s voice sang into his ear, he can feel himself wanting to cry, his body shaking, and he does not even know why.   
  
‘ _Please don’t ever stop breaking my heart_.’  
  
' Kid.' Law mouthed.  
  
As if Kid can hear him, the redhead suddenly turned to his direction, the hazel eyes finally locked into his. Seems to be equally startled by their encounter, Kid’s hand was holding onto the microphone, but those hazel eyes were completely glued to him. 

The moment froze, with only them looking at each other, their eyes beamed up with their mouth agape, wanting to tell each other about everything but not sure how to reach. But just as Law were to utter another word, the spell was broken, and he was dragged away by Pappag, with Kid's eyes looked at him one last time before looking away. 

_No, look at me again._  
  
‘ Come, you need to meet Parona, the heiress to Moriar’s Secret. Can you imagine she is that ghastly Gecko's daughter? I wonder how does he feel about his daughter dating that dishy hedge fund friend of his…’ 

‘ What?’ Law raised his eyebrows in confusion. W _hy do I have to know about all these people?_

‘ Mihawk, dear, Mihawk! You have missed out so much, everyone knows Mihawk! He is my sponsor -- ’ Pappag sang rather flamboyantly, and Law just frowned in annoyance.   
  
‘ I am sorry, but I have to —‘ Law turned to Kid again, but the pair of brown eyes shifted to the other way, his high cheekbone slightly blushed as he used to when he was sad.   
  
‘ _Make up my mind, make up my mind, make up my mind._ ’   
  
‘ I miss you,’ Law whispered, but Kid cannot hear. 

The music continues playing as Law merged into the glittering, diamond hairnet wearing crowd, with Kid’s eyes wondering at anywhere, anyone, anything but Law.   
  
‘ _I can't believe I love someone like you._ ’   
  
‘ I love you,’ Law said, but the magic is lost.

Like that, they vanished, from each other’s world, with the music turned into indecipherable noises, the chandelier turned into pearly glitters, the soft movements morphed into waving shadows. 

And yet the night goes on, as it always does. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Put ships that I wrote in other fanfictions in here because it is a grand finale -- sort of ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> The music lyrics copied from Deep Blue Love by Patrick Stump 🖤
> 
> N.B. Ace is a chaotic fuck-boy ish in here. Like sweet but c h a o t i c


	13. By the Way, I Love You

It has been a week since Pappag’s party, and nothing has happened.

It has also been three years since Law broke Kid, and Law has been waiting for something to happen. But when something has happened, Law stood there and panicked, missed it, so nothing has happened. 

By the time Law escaped the party by leaving Pappag a fake number (it is only a matter of time before that stalkerish starfish found out his clinic address via phone book), the band was gone, and Law was angry about how he missed the chance, and he nearly cried on his cab ride because of sheer frustration. 

Law tried to write to Kid, but he realised he cannot quite put his words into ink: guilt, shame, love, and self-hate, everything in Law’s mind turned into squabble as soon as his pen hits the paper, and he can only curse his hands for being useless except for offering precise and pin-point surgery. 

So he did nothing because he is too afraid to do anything. 

In his defence, Law is not the most proactive person to begin with. Despite the changes in his personal life — a most restricted sex life and incorporated long walks — his routine remains virtually the same. Make black coffee, shower, brush his teeth and wash his face (also using face serum after he spotted a slight line near his eyes), the same outfit ( Mondrian toned cashmere and cotton), the same breakfast (coffee with green apple and hard-boiled egg). Go to clinic, work, have lunch, go back home, go for a thirty minutes walk, stretch and sleep. He grabs brunch with Chopper and his friends every fortnight ( Franky, Mr Pink and Queen have a regular brunch weekend because they believe it is a great way to for bromance and ‘gainz’ ) , grabs drinks with Penguin and Shachi bi-weekly ( always some random bar in Little Wano), and wank sporadically ( think of nothing and no one). On weekends he would do his washing, clean his flat, water and talk to his plant, a bear cactus named Bepo (white, round and looks like a polar bear), always attempt to cook by 5 pm but end up ordering takeaway anyway. 

To put it in another way, his life is as bland as the stale bread in his cupboard. 

The only significant change that he proactive take is his apartment. He has moved from the Venetian apartment to a simple studio: a white double bed with only the mattress on right side of the room, a small open kitchen on the left, a small living room with nothing but a beige sofa, Bepo, a romba and an orange painting, everything is decorated in plain wood and white, courtesy of a nearby Muji. It is all very much Law and very not Rosinate: everything is pristine, occasionally washed in an evening shade of burnt orange, signifying Law finally living his life without the quixotic shadow of Donquixote. 

His life has confined into a banality of 56 sqm, and Law has very much enjoyed it. 

Law sent most of his weekend writing medical journal and sipping warm tea. And for this particular weekend, just as Law was trying to finish his long-overdue medical journal and calling the nearby Kanoian restaurant for egg fried rice, his doorbell suddenly rung, and his routine is once again disrupted. 

He frowned in suspicious — suspecting it is Pappag who plan to kidnap him right to a photo shoot, which he has attempted before — but he soon realised it must be the technician that is going to fix his washer. He has notified his landlord, Mrs Balkin, about the washing machine not working a month ago, and she probably held on such a grudge against his sexuality that she purposefully delayed it until now. 

' Coming.' Law said as he walked to the door, expecting another old, cockney accented lad that almost always comes with a new apartment building. 

' Good afternoon I am here to — ' the man greeted, he paused. 

' Yes it is the washing machine — ' Law opened the door, he also paused. 

Pale face, narrow nose, red hair and navy jumpsuit. It is Kid Eustass in front of him, in his workwear, his hair not coiffed but perfectly scruffy, still ruggedly handsome in his unique way. 

' Oh, it’s you.' Kid said, his eyes turned to the tip of his dirty work boots. 

' Oh.’ Law exclaimed, he is not quite sure what to say all of a sudden. 

Then, they plummeted into silence. 

' Should I go in ?' Kid finally said. 

' Yes, sure. Erm, the washer is not starting for some reason.' Law pointed him towards the washing machine located in the kitchen, suddenly finding Bepo next to his sofa incredibly interesting. 

' Right.' Kid said, his tall body squatted down to look at the machine, chiselled underneath the tight blue jumpsuit. And Law, not sure what to do or what to say, sat back on the sofa to finish his journal, even though his mind is pure blankness. 

' You moved?' Kid asked, trying to make a small talk to dispense the awkward air. 

' Yes, closer to the clinic. ' Law replied as he started typing nonsense in his computer. ' And the landlady is Balkin, the homophobic lady that used to live under me. How funny is that.' 

_ It would be funny if it is the homophobic lady that reunited us.  _

‘Cool.’ Kid replied in an intentional monotone.

‘ So, you still work at Franky’s?’ Dying for the conversation to continue, Law asked, then he realised it is an incredibly stupid question because he is literally wearing the warehouse uniform. 

‘ No, I am working for some Charlotte-Beasts defence company now.’ Kid replied as he removed a white circuit from the washer.‘ I only came because the whole warehouse is empty and I accidentally picked up the phone; Balkin was screaming to me like a scratchy crow.’ 

‘ Oh, why is the warehouse empty?’ Law wondered in partial curiosity. Kid’s life surely has move forwarded, which make Law feels uneasily stagnated.

‘ Robin’s water broke, everyone is in the hospital. I was supposed to be —’ Kid looked up from the washing machine, his movement paused. 

' Your boyfriend like toast?' He asked; Law’s series of questions seems to soften him a bit. 

' Huh?'  _ Boyfriend? _

' The toaster. It is a good model, it actually pops the toast back up.’ Kid nodded towards the apple green toaster, his tone casual but his body language — awkwardly straight back and fixated direction towards the washer — suggests he is nervous. 

_ '  _ It came with the apartment.' Law lied. He actually paid twenty quid for it from Lakeland because he remembers Kid likes toast for breakfast, but he is not going to admit that: it is stupid to buy a toaster for Kid when he wasn’t even his. 

Kid was his, then he wasn’t. 

Seems not to be interested in the toaster anymore, the two descent into silence again. 

_ This is the time. Law. This is your chance. _ _ Say sorry, say that you still love him.  _

' I saw you in Pappag's last week, you were good. ' Law commented, then he just hated how stupid he sounds. Of course Kid was good — he was always good. 

' Thanks, your  _ boyfriend _ hired us via Hawkins.' Kid said rather archly. 

' My boyfriend who?' Law frowned, his hand stopped typing drivel. 

' Pappag, that starfish ?' Kid looked up in equal confusion. ' He keeps holding your hands and parading you in the crowd that night, and put a gigantic photo of you in the hallway ?' 

_ Oh fuck he saw that fucking photo. One more person in my shame list.  _

‘ He is not my boyfriend. I haven’t dated or fucked anything in three years, but I am sure sticking my dick in a starfish is still not part of my plan.' Law said, and even with Kid kept his face facing the washing machine, Law can tell Kid chuckled a little just by the way his shoulder moves. 

‘ Did your  _ boyfriend _ went and see your performance?’ Law asked as he looked at his keyboard blankly. 

‘ I am not dating anyone.’ Kid replied. ‘ Too busy with work and the band.’ 

_ Hallelujah. _ Law thought, and all the boyfriend talk just makes him feel like a teenager again, except Law was much calmer and collected when he was an actual teenager. 

_ It is time to do something, don’t lose the chance again, you fucktard. _

‘ I want to find you at the party.’ Law confessed. 

‘ But you didn’t.’ Kid observed as he tried to fix the circuit with a weird-headed screw. 

Law bites his lips, suddenly felt much guilty about all the things that he did not do for Kid. 

_ What did I do for Kid, what did I do for Kid, what did I —  _

' I bought the toaster.’ Law said, and Kid notably perked. 

‘ What?’ Kid asked even though he can perfectly hear what did Law just said. 

‘ I bought the toaster. The apartment has nothing when I moved in: no even a fucking light bulb. I got it because I remember you like having toast for breakfast, so I think if I get it, maybe I can motivate myself to find you. But I chickened out because I think you will find someone better than me.’ 

He paused, it is quite cathartic to finally let everything out once and for all. 

‘ Because you are so much better than me.’ Law buried his face with his hand, then his finger slide to grab his hair, trying to not look at Kid or to see his expression. 

‘ I am sorry, for that night, or any other nights. I am sorry.’

_ I am sorry I was so cruel.  _

His nose turned sour as he looked at the keyboard, and he suddenly feel like it is a bad idea to tell him everything, particularly when Kid is fixing his washing machine. He should at least wait until Kid finished fixing so he can at least cry whilst doing laundry. 

‘ Sorry don’t just magically mend things, Law. A lot has changed all these years.’ Kid said, his hand still pressing the machine button. ‘ You went away without giving me an explanation. It has been three years, you can’t just remerge and expect everything would be okay because of a simple sorry.’ 

His tone flat and every word of Kid just hurt Law’s bit by bit. 

It is the truth, and the truth often hurts. 

‘ We can’t possibly go back to what we were before.’ He added. 

Ah, the final words and the coffin is shut, coroner report completed, their relationship declared dead. 

‘Right.’ Law kept his gaze at his computer, particularly the ‘A’ letter in his word document, his eyes not looking at anywhere.

_ We can't go back to what we were before, when he loved you. _

The only thing Law can leave to say is  _ sorry, _ but he had it so much that he even started to feel sorry for himself again. 

_ ‘  _ You need the hardware from the factory. It will take a week to arrive.’ Kid sat up as he petted some dust off his body, his cheekbone reddish; his phone, placed on top fo the washing machine suddenly beamed up, and he quickly grabbed it to check the message in order to avoid this unnerving atmosphere. 

‘ Franky just texted, Robin is not going in labour until tomorrow.’ Kid reported, then seems to realise there are no reasons to explain, he paused awkwardly as he looked at Law. Law knew that the action is purely habitual: Kid used to tell Law about every text of his, and that small gesture always made Law feel that much secure. 

And no one will ever do that to Law again. 

_ Oh fuck, it hurts.  _

' I will leave the apartment next time so it will be more comfortable for you.’ Law said as tears were emerging out from his eyes, and he quickly brushed it with his finger. He cannot wait for Kid to go so that he can just cry out loud whilst playing his own ' Heartbreak KID' playlist. 

' It will be someone else, I don’t work in Franky’s anymore.’ Kid reminded as he closed his toolbox, and the air in the apartment is so heavy that it nearly crushes Law again.

Keys clinging, footstep, door opened, door closed. 

_ It’s done. All done, all set, all rust.  _

Law buried his face in his hands. 

_ It’s done. _

_ It’s over.  _

_ It’s —  _

' Okay I lied, I miss you, I fucking miss you. I thought you were with the starfish and I was like fuck, it was really over, he fucks fishes now and I am not a fish. You really hurt me, but I don’t know, I can't stop thinking about you. It’s so stupid. ’ Kid’s voice suddenly appeared, and Law jumped up from his chair in shock, only to see Kid standing by the door, his nose tip and cheekbone all red, his eyes finally looked at Law with a pinkish hue. 

‘ Fucking hell, i’s really creepy to do that open and close door thing.' Law declared, still in shock and cannot digest what is happening. 

' Yah, I was going to leave but I just can't make it, so I closed the door, but then I don’t know how to notify you because you were crying. It was all very awkward for me.' Kid laughed a little, his eyes were like wet jewels. ‘ I don’t know, I just can’t get over you.’ 

_ I just can’t get over you.  _

' I — ' Kid wanted to continue with his unorganised babble, but it was muffed with Law’s kiss; he simply rushed up and jumped on Kid, his legs wrapped around Kid's waist. Kid quickly grabbed him from the bottom, his mouth opened slightly to taste Law even better — still taste like red velvet — the pair of large hands started touching Law’s waist underneath his tee-shirt, and the sheer touch of his can makes Law shiver. 

They continued kissing as Kid carried Law to the bed, his arm dropped him onto the bed and gives Law and quick thrill; their tongue, still tasting each other, never quite parted, and Kid climbed on top of him ( Law can feel Kid's hard bulge by his stomach), both of them stiffed from waist below. 

' I will cum very quickly because I haven’t fucked anyone for a long time.' Kid said as he zipped down his jumpsuit and took off his tee-shirt, his body, his exceptional body managed to look better than before. 

' Hear hear.' Law smirked, his hand grabbed onto Kd’s neck to pull him closer, his nose nestled against his neckline to smell the scent that he has been missing; even with their body physically touching each other, Law still hates that he cannot be close enough with Kid. 

' Oh,’ Law paused and looked at Kid’s face again. ‘ by the way, I love you.’ 

Kid paused, his eyes widened, and Law’s his heart suddenly froze. He was not sure what would Kid reply: is it too quick, is it too inappropriate if they are only just getting back? Law is not sure are they starting to date again or become a boyfriend again, but at this point, they are too occupied by the pure, sheer joy that he cannot think of matter like this. 

' I love you too.' Kid replied, his lip uncontrollable curved up, and the light inside his eyes remerged after all these years. 

That night they had sex until their bed moved for approximately 180 degrees, with their session disrupted by loud knocks from Law’s neighbour, a rough-looking man called Smoker ( who is actually having a quaint dinner date with his date, Tashigi in his flat). 

‘ Should we thanks Balkin for making all this happen?’ Law wondered as Smoker cursed in front of the door. Smoker seems to be calling Balkin to resort this matter, but judging by the amount of tusk and swear words, Balkin is obviously not picking up the phone. 

‘ Like, thanks for being our homophobic fairy godmother?’ Kid frowned, then Law just laughed about how silly it sounds. 

‘ Is it true that we cannot get back to what we were before?’ Law wondered, all those sex and reunion simply made him chattier than before. 

‘ No. I can not be like that again. That’s not love, Law.’ Kid paused as he laid next to Law. ‘ I yield to whatever you want just to make you stay -- it is a sheer obsession.’

‘ I guess you are right.’ Law replied even though he still felt a bit sad. Seems to realise his speech sounds rather harsh, Kid slides his hands towards Law, the bear claws clutched tightly over his hand. 

‘ I want to be better than before. And if we try really, really hard, we can be better.’ Kid whispered rather loudly ( Smoker is now arguing with Balkin over the phone at this point). 

‘ Let’s try then.’ Law grinned as he leaned in for a peck on Kid’s lips. Kid smiled a little, his hand cupped against Law’s face and rubbed his cheek, looking at Law as if he is his greatest robot treasure of all time ( A loud phone smashing noise appeared on the background). 

They continued their action, with both of them starting another round with Smoker’s curse in the background, which, surprisingly made it more exciting than Law has anticipated. 

Too exhausted to catch up with their life, both fell asleep as they were drenched with the insufferable stink of sweat and cum, with Law waking up the next morning due to the shivering cold from his back, and he saw the blur of red and navy sitting by the entrance, the pair of large hands try to wear his boots as quiet as he could. 

' What are you doing?' Law asked as he rested his chin on the pillow. 

' I am going, ’ Kid replied, and Law can feel his heart sank a little. 

_ Right, we can't go back to what we were before, of course, he is not staying for breakfast.  _

' To buy rice and seaweed to make onigiri. ' Kid walked up to kiss on Law’s forehead, his hand brushed against Law’s hair as if he is petting a cat. ' Your kitchen only has bread, you got nothing to eat. ' 

_ He remembers what I like to eat. _

‘Oh, make coffee! I always liked the way you make it.' Kid mumbled as he walked to the door, his hand readjusting the collar of his shearling jacket, looking handsome despite a lack from last night. A loud click occurred, and the winter sun flushed a wave of Wes Andersonseque peach into the apartment. 

‘ Milk and one and a half sugar?’ Law asked for confirmation as he wrapped the blanket around him, turning himself into an onigiri. 

‘ You remembered.’ Kid chuckled a little. Of course, Law would remember Kid's coffee order: he can remember the looks they get from various baristas clear as day. 

' Hey, Kid Eustass.' Suddenly think of something, Law shouted, and Kid’s popped his head back in the apartment: with his red fringe covering his forehead, Kid somehow managed to look adorable in a vulnerably, unsuspecting way. 

' What, Law Trafalgar?' Kid tilted his head. 

' I love you.' Law warbled, his face blushed a little. 

' I love you too.' Kid bites onto his lower lips to suppress his smile, ' What's with all that?' 

'All what?' Law blinked. 

' All those… words.' 

' I don’t know, I guess I just want you to know.’ 

‘ To know what?’ Kid asked. 

‘ You know what I meant.’ Law said, he never liked giving in too much affection to anyone, not even Kid. 

‘ No I don’t.’ Kid leaned his against the door edge as his red lips smirked, his body position suggests he will only go out to buy food if Law confesses once again. 

‘ What do you meant, Law Trafalgar?’ He smirked. 

He knows the answer, but he just wants to hear it again, again, and again. 

_ Oh, that fucker.  _

Law covered his forehead with his hand and closed his eyes. With the sunlight drawing a slight bright line on his face, and with the bed propped up by a multitude of pillows and the blanket crumbled next to the faint shape of Kid, everything just seems picturesque perfect, and Law is still trying to get used to this level of perfectness. 

‘ I just want you to know that I love you, Kid Eustass.’ His lips curled.

END 

★

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading my fanfiction 🖤 I really enjoyed all those comments and never expected it would reach 1k+ view. 
> 
> I personally never liked a good ending, but I always wanted a good ending for Kid and Law for some reason (?) 
> 
> If you want a realistic ending I think the story will just end in chapter 12 - life sometimes just give you one chance, and if you didn't take it, well, it's gonna slip away. BUT I am SO irritated by Law's lack of action (╯°Д°)╯ so I give him one more chance. 
> 
> P.S. The story of Law and Rosinate is actually inspired by the artist Francis Bacon and 7 Reece Maw is actually his actual studio. I am not creative with names or what not LOL
> 
> Again thank you for reading till the end 🖤 Love you my creepy internet strangers


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